Lost Soul
by silencer299
Summary: A teen with no history or life, comes to Konoha to improve the quality of theirs. Will he also find something for himself? A Home? Love? NaruHina sidestory, first fic r&r please, flamers make me laugh so they are welcome too.
1. Chapter 1 The Test

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. This is my first fanfic, so starts off pretty poorly. r&r please 

Chapter 1

Kakashi looked at the longhaired kid with doubt, this guy can't be much of an opponent. Eyeing his own pouch, the ninja had an urgent desire to read his book. Kakashi took his book out, opened it to page seventy-six, and gave the command "Hajumae!"

With that command the fight began, Kiyoshi and the two preteens by his side were supposed to get the bells away from Kakashi sensei. Kiyoshi was rather confused about whether Kakashi really meant for them to start their attacks or not. The two kids charged at Kakashi blindly, thinking that this would be a breeze. The blonde teen had no choice but to charge in with them. When they reached him, they grabbed for the bells and pulled them off with Kakashi still reading the book. Which followed by them jumping around and cheering. Kiyoshi was rather confused by what just happened, the fact that it was too easy haunted his mind, making him really cautious.

"Get away from there!" screamed Kiyoshi as the kids stopped to look at him in triumph.

"Haha, you're the one who's going to be tied up Kiyoshi!" still unaware that the task they just completed went too smoothly to be true.

All of a sudden, Kakashi and the bells disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He was using a clone technique to make two clones of himself and disguise them into bells. The kids stood and stared at their empty hands in awe, they fell into his trap.

"Oh no" whispered Kiyoshi, as he activated his blood time limit. "Get over here, now!" the kids complied and rushed over to him. In an instant he tackled them out of the way right before Kakashi's hands reached up from the underground.

"What did you do that for?!!" screamed one of the kids lying on the floor. Kiyoshi did nothing but point in the direction of the two holes in the ground to reply.

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake and he screamed, "We have to move! Run like you never ran before!" The three of them ran as fast as they could towards the forest nearby. Seconds later, huge columns of water broke out from the underground, one after the other trying to toss them up into the air. "Your left! Coming from the right! Duck!", the kids did everything he said, and managed to evade every attack Kakashi had thrown at them.

One of the kids took the glove off of one of his hands and screamed, "Jump!" Kiyoshi picked up the other kid and jumped. The boy, with the combination of 5 hand seals pointed all his fingers at an incoming attack, and a bold of lightning came out spreading through the water, following the wet trail back to the source of it.

An explosion came from the ground as Kakashi flew out, with a graceful landing he didn't lift an eye, but continued to read his book. "Your lightning can't do anything to me on that level, you still have much to learn about your element..." He was going to continue lecturing the boy, but got interrupted by a scene in the book, and started giggling.

"Are you really a teacher? You seem to me like a man who still can't get over the fact that he's over 18." suggested Kiyoshi with a taunt, to which Kakashi said nothing seeing as he was too much into the book. The kids charged again, and Kiyoshi screamed "No, come back!" to which they responded accordingly, remembering what happened last time they attacked blindly. He whispered to them, "we need a plan, retreat for now, we still have lots of time to get those bells." then he threw a smoke bomb, and the three of them disappeared.

"I guess i can sit down now" said Kakashi into the void, calmly turned around and headed towards the nearest tree, still reading.

"Do you know what airborne fighting is?" to which both kids shook their heads "That was a pretty stupid question seeing as I am the one who invented it, and therefore the only one who knows how to use it" Their eyes started twitching at what he just said to them. "Never mind that, here's what it is, it's basic hand to hand combat, designed for assault, evasion and flexibility all at the same time." This got them interested; he continued "furthermore, it becomes even more effective when you have more opponents." With that, the hope in their eyes faded, and their smiles disappeared. "So we'll have to tweak this combat slightly to work to our advantage. The basic idea is to use the opponents as the ground you stand on, but rather than standing, they're repeated kicks entering the opponent's vital points. this way, you have more possibilities for movements in mid air, and all four of your limbs are attacking, i guess the easiest way to explain it, fighting without touching the ground."

The kids were now definitely into the idea of Kiyoshi being the leader. he was stopping the mission to teach them techniques of his own. "Since there are three of us, and only one of him, my technique would only benefit him, so we have to use this technique and teamwork together." The kids groaned and looked in all directions but his. "yes.. the dreadful t-word. But here's the best part of it... it looks cool!" There was a small silence, the kids didn't know what to make of the blond in front of them, to consider him mature or still childish. "Anyways, what we'll have to do is attack him, and support eachother in midair while doing so. Lets go practice on that tree over there." The three of them went towards a tree and started their training.

Eleven hours had passed, and it was night. Kakashi nodded off, with the book covering his face. The group looked from afar, and Kiyoshi decided to use the group's new skill as a last resort. "We're going to try to get the bells, be quiet."

"But what about our technique? I want to try it out" whined the shorter kid.

"That's a last resort. And remember, if it comes to that, do not aim for vital spots, he's out friend, and we have no reason to hurt him."

"Alright, lets go" said the taller kid.

As they were sneaking up, he turned his blood limit on again, and they asked him what's happening to his eyes, to which he replied with the index finger to his lips signaling them to be quiet. They can't be too careful with an opponent like Kakashi. As they reached him, one of the kids attempted an approach, several seconds later, with an alarmed face Kiyoshi pulled the kid away as he let out an "Eek!" A trap went off, and a noose got pulled up catching nothing. That noose could've been wrapped around the kid's ankle and Kakashi would've woken up. Still, Kakashi woke up because of the "eek" the kid had released, and was startled to see glowing green eyes in the dark.

Frozen, as if villains caught in their act, the trio stood still (with the kid still dangling from Kiyoshi's arms), observing Kakashi. Without any concern for the surroundings, Kakashi yawned and stretched his arms out sideways, still sitting. He smacked his lips and folded his arms on his laps.

"well what're you waiting for?" asked Kakashi, to which Kiyoshi had no answer to.

Kiyoshi thought to himself "how can someone be so calm? especially after being nearly snuck up on, furthermore, being so oblivious to the surrounding opponents.

The whole group stared in shock thinking the same thing. "Well, if you're not going to do anything, I guess I'll have to" said Kakashi rubbing his eye, picking up his book, and getting up.

Suddenly, without a warning Kakashi attempted to tackle Kiyoshi

Kiyoshi Rolled over backwards with a grunt supporting Kakashi's weight with all four of his limbs and tossing him in the opposite direction.

Kakashi landed once again gracefully and without effort, but was a bit surprised to see that this kid could fight, the same kid that he once thought of being incapable of completing a simple task of boiling a pot of tea.

This time, the fight truly began, the group attacked in a formation that Kakashi was unfamiliar with, and using a fighting style which the masked ninja had never seen before.

The fight went on for three hours, and eventually Kiyoshi and the group had to retreat once again. He was very disappointed, they had lost a perfect opportunity to complete the mission, and furthermore, Kakashi now examined Kiyoshi's Blood limit, They were at a disadvantage. This time, he asked them what they could do, the smaller kid said he could cast a very nice genjutsu, but wouldn't be very effective against someone of Kakashi's caliber. The taller kid said that he knew his lightning technique and had potentially good aim with kunai and shurikens. Kiyoshi considered this, came up with a plan, and briefed his team on what to do.

Several hours passed, and they now only had an hour left to get the bells. It was the morning and Kakashi was reading his book again, from the beginning, for the third time, and occasionally slapping himself to stay awake considering what happened last time he dosed off.

The attack came using one of the wise man's rules; Kakashi saw a flag coming out of the forest with fingers peeking out over the top, the rest of the body hidden behind it, at which he became slightly ignorant chuckling lightly. Only seconds later he realized what had happened, he was caught in a beginner's genjutsu. He quickly brought his arms together, formed a seal and said "release!" only to see two kunai already airborne meters away from him traveling at a ridiculous speed. He quickly realized what the point of this attack was; to separate him from the bells. The kunai tips caught the tiny rings that connected the bells to the ribbons on Kakashi's belt. The kunai tore the bells off, flying into the distance. Now was the test of agility, Kiyoshi was racing the copy ninja to retrieve the bells.

Kakashi removed the mask from his second eye to prepare for combat. The bells were impaled to a tree, when the two blood limit users had arrived. Kiyoshi reached for the bells, but Kakashi grabbed his hand, the process repeated with Kiyoshi's left hand.

Kakashi's grip tightened and he attempted to flip Kiyoshi over himself.

As Kiyoshi was flying upside down over Kakashi who was still hanging on to him, he tucked his left leg in, and spread his right leg out to the side to kick himself off a tree. This threw Kakashi's attack out of proportion and they both landed in an awkward position.

They were connected by the hands, leaning on eachother in an upside down manner, forming a bridge. Kiyoshi decided to go with the flow and gripped onto Kakashi's wrists as the ninja did to his. They flipped over a few times in mid air, hands still connected, and landed in nekoashi-dachi (cat stance). Since their hands were occupied they couldn't form seals, and had to fight with only their feet, and this worked to Kiyoshi's advantage, so just in case Kakashi would try to abandon the situation he binded their hands with chakra.

The two kids were running to aid Kiyoshi, who was in battle about two Kilometers away.

The younger kid kept whining "Why did you have to throw the kunai so hard, now we'll be tired and useless once we get there."

The second kid considered this, stopped running and replied "you're right, slow down, we need to conserve energy."

Younger boy was worried about Kiyoshi though "do you think he'll be alright?"

"yeah, we'll be there soon enough" said the taller kid without considering the amount of time they have left; only 12 minutes left to retrieve the bells or else they fail.

Kakashi has already seen through Kiyoshi's blood limit, and after observation he came to the conclusion that Kiyoshi had only unlocked the first stage of his power. He also figured out what it was, even calculated how much into the future the teen could see. He was at a disadvantage, his Sharingan could only give him high reflexes which at this short range wasn't too effective for combat, his memorizing skill didn't work too well seeing that he couldn't get too many chances to get a lock on from his previous fight, his only option was to use the his genjutsu, because he wouldn't dare use his Mangeky[ Sharingan, not in a situation like this.

He cast the Genjutsu not knowing what would happen, but what actually happened was Kiyoshi's mind split into two, which he practiced with using the dual Kodachis, Kakashi did not foresee this, and therefore had to break Kiyoshi's chakra connection with his own chakra, which would take two times as much because he was putting it in the offence.

Kiyoshi grinned at Kakashi's failure to use his Genjutsu, but was a bit surprised to see Kakashi trying to back out of the bind. He felt His chakra connection weakening so he pumped more into it. He was surprised at how much power Kakashi had, it takes two times the amount of chakra to put on the offensive than defensive, and yet, Kakashi is overpowering him. The blue glow around their connected hands grew bigger and brighter, until there was a big explosion. They both flew back seventeen meters, slid across the ground scarring the ground's grassy texture. Kiyoshi stood there slightly slouched, and panting, where as Kakashi was standing up straight with no worries about catching his breath.

Then Kiyoshi's shadow caught the ninja's attention. He looked up at the sun then back at Kiyoshi and said "Oi, time's up".

Just at that point the kids arrived and were about to engage Kakashi in battle, when he raised his hand to stop them, and pointer at Kiyoshi with the other. The next thing they saw was Kiyoshi collapsing on the scarred ground. The three rushed over to Kiyoshi. They stood around him, looking at the guy snoring at their feet, Sweat drops came down the sides of their heads.

"Did he get the bells?" asked the smaller kid

"No, but he was very close" replied Kakashi while pointing at the bells still stuck in the tree. he went over to take the bells back, and had some trouble taking the kunai out. "Oi kid!" the taller kid turned around, "nice throw".

"Thanks... So what do we do with him?" asked the Taller kid pointing at Kiyoshi.

"You two grab his arms, I'll grab his legs." replied Kakashi.

As they were all struggling to hold Kiyoshi up, the smaller kid whined "why is he so heavy?"

Kakashi unrolled the blond boy's sleeves, to see that Kiyoshi was wearing some sort of high-density alloy, which he then searched for and found numerous plates of it, all over Kiyoshi's body. "holy mother of.." then turned around to see the kids staring at him, waiting to hear what he was going to say next. "Umm, let's just leave these weights here behind this tree until he comes to. Then we'll tell him where he can collect them."

This time, when they tried to pick him up, they put so much effort at once that they tossed Kiyoshi up into the air. Kakashi was barely able to catch the teen. "on second thought, i think i can carry him by myself."

The three of them walked with Kiyoshi folded over Kakashi's shoulder, while Kakashi told the kids what happened in the fight. After he was done telling them, there was a small pause, then he said, "don't train today, go home, meditate on what you've learned, and get some sleep. That's an order."

"Did we pass the test?" asked Kiyoshi in his sleep. Everyone stopped walking due to the confusion the sleeping teen had brought on. Kakashi then remembered Kiyoshi's secondary mind, which allows him to multitask with maximum concentration.

The kids were a bit startled, but then turned to Kakashi and asked, "Yeah, did we? Because even though we didn't get the bells, we tried out hardest."

Kakashi considered this and replied "don't bother yourself with that for now, but if you think that hard work is the only thing that gets you a pass, you're mistaken."

"But..."

Kakashi interrupted "I'll explain it to you later, but for now, i suggest you forget about all that nonsense, and meditate on what you've learned."

"Fine..." replied the small kid with a pout, making Kiyoshi and Kakashi smile.

Author's note: Hello everyone, this was my first fanfic, and it's only part one of two. I finished it a few days ago, but the first thirteen chapters still needed to be fixed before I marked it off as "completed". I just finished repairing those chapters, and Now I'm working on part two, called "A Fateful Roll". You can check it out by going to my profile and clicking on the link, but seeing that it's a continuation, reading the "Lost Soul" is manditory to go to the next. Have a nice day -Silencer299


	2. Chapter 2 Hospitalised

Chapter 2 

It's a quiet morning in the Leaf Village when everybody in the half-kilometer radius woke up from an unfamiliar scream. Kiyoshi was too startled by the change in his waking-up routine; the air smelt like Vic's nose drops, his back ached from lying on something that was too soft for his liking, and then there was the blonde girl who was standing over him and gave off the aura of nagginess. He looked around and realized that he was in a hospital, on a bed, and that the blonde longhaired teen girl was a nurse.

"Oh, hi" Said Kiyoshi

A vain popped up on Ino's forehead and she burst out screaming "Don't scare me like that!!!" medics ran in as she carried on. "Furthermore, don't scream in a hospital!!!" The medics were dragging her away as she cursed Kiyoshi.

"Yeah, likewise" said Kiyoshi surprised by the nurse with attitude.

"What did you say?!" she started kicking and waving arms in all directions as the medics were carrying her out the door and closing it after themselves, eventually the screaming faded away into the distant hallway.

"Wow, what a place, I've been here for only..." Kiyoshi thought to himself, and got interrupted by an intruder. "Heyya how's it going?!" he didn't turn his head around fast enough to see the person enter, but when it was completely turned all he could see is a nose with wide nostrils, a ridiculously huge grin, and very uncommon whickers on both cheeks. "What the..." Kiyoshi started but got interrupted again.

"Hey Naruto, back off and give him some air." Kiyoshi observed the character as he was backing away. This guy had an obsession with the color orange, blond spiky hair and for some strange reason this 'Naruto' had sharper teeth than any normal person did. He looked past him, and saw another nurse standing in the doorway, this one had seemingly unnatural pink hair, and nothing else in particular that caught his attention except her nurse uniform being of the red color.

"Ohh crap... are you here to avenge your colleague?" Kiyoshi was getting rather worried.

Sakura replied "huh? Oh you mean Ino? No, don't worry about her, everyone here thinks that she has too big of an attitude for a ninja."

An expression of relief came over Kiyoshi's face, gladly forgetting the image of angry nurses with syringes filled with god-knows-what. This time his team, and Kakashi appeared behind Sakura.

"Oh my god, if this keeps up the whole Village will be in this room." Kiyoshi thought to himself.

"Sakura, let us in." said Kakashi and entered with his comrades. "Hey Kiyoshi, how're you holding up? Did I break anything?" Kiyoshi tried to get up, and found himself accidentally nearly jumping out the window, He was stopped by Kakashi's hand grabbing on to his ankle to save him, and fell down head first with a face grind.

Everyone was confused by what just happened, as well as Kiyoshi, he asked, "did you give me steroids or adrenaline or something?"

"What? God no!" replied Sakura.

Kakashi whispered something in Kiyoshi's ear, as Kiyoshi looked down to see that he was wearing nothing but boxers. "Oh my god! Who changed me?!"

"That would be Ino, she seemed to have a thing for you and demanded to be the one watching over you." replied Naruto, with an answer that sent chills down Kiyoshi's spine.

"I don't think I feel so good..." Kiyoshi's face was becoming pale. Kakashi took the flowers out of a vase nearby, and splashed the water inside into Kiyoshi's face, then started slapping him.

"Hey, stay with us, don't go into the light." said Kakashi in a calm manner, still slapping Kiyoshi silly. Naruto couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing at the scene in front of him.

Kiyoshi came to, when Sakura used the smelling salts on him. "She thinks that anybody skinny is hot, and therefore is anorexic herself," added Sakura to the previous statement about Ino.

"Please stop, you're supposed to be stopping me from dying, not killing Me." said Kiyoshi

"He's got a point there..." said Naruto to be interrupted by Sakura's punch in the face which sent him flying through the wall and into the next room. "Guhhh..." moaned Naruto with drool coming from his mouth and eyes spiraling.

"Are they always like that?" whispered Kiyoshi

"Don't mind them... anyways, how are you feeling?" asked Kakashi

"Better... Hey guys!!" he yelled to the kids patiently waiting, and then running up to him and talking at the same time. "Whoa, go easy on me, my head's still spinning." moaned Kiyoshi, and the kids became quiet. "Anyways, I'm guessing those two aren't going to introduce themselves." Kiyoshi said pointing his thumb at Sakura holding Naruto by the collar standing over a pile or rubble and smacking him in the face with a fly swatter.

"Right, I guess I'll have to do the deed. You already know their names; that's Naruto and that's Sakura. They were once team seven, with me as their teacher, and another team member named... Sasuke" said Kakashi, and made the last part come out with a chill in his voice. "I can't speak for them, seeing as it's a private matter, but I'll tell you this; do not ask them unless you're prepared to have a bad day ahead of you."

This made Kiyoshi wander what happened to this 'Sasuke' fellow, but left that part alone, and decided to liven Kakashi up. "You're a teacher?!" exclaimed the blond and burst out laughing.

This made Kakashi forget about Sasuke for the time being, and focus on doing something unpleasant to Kiyoshi.

"Kiyoshi wiped off the tears from laughter, and said "Ahh┘ where's Tsunade?"

Kakashi replied with "battle of impending doom, the worst kind of battle there is." This confused Kiyoshi, so Kakashi said continued, "Politics... that's the worst kind of battle that can be fought, you see I gave her the results for the test, and she decided to accept your proposal. But her acceptance isn't enough, she needs the approval of the senate before making this kind of decision." To which Kiyoshi smiled.

After more several life-threatening and overall hectic battles took place in his resting-room, they finally let him out of the hospital. He put his clothes on, which felt extremely light. While walking alongside Kakashi, Naruto and the kids, He leaned over to Kakashi and asked "umm... Kakashi-sama, where are my..." he said in a low voice.

"I'll show you where I hid them, but why are you so secretive about them?" Answered Kakashi to Kiyoshi's inquisitive face.

"Well, you see I like to keep an image. I bet you find me to look like some brat who doesn't know how to boil a pot of tea, right?" Kiyoshi began explaining.

"No! Of course not!" Kakashi saw Kiyoshi's don't-lie-to-me face. "Yes┘ actually, that's exactly what I thought when I first saw you."

"Yeah... I have a tendency of making that impression." Kiyoshi put his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky. He continued "I'm skinny because that's my natural metabolism, I look skinny, but my body transfers the proteins from the meat I eat into very condensed and organized muscle cells. But I don't eat a lot you see. If I did, my muscles would look only slightly bigger, but I would be a lot stronger."

"If you have such a fast and advanced Metabolism, why don't you use it to your advantage and constantly eat to strengthen yourself up?"

"It's not that I haven't tried it, but it's just that I'm never hungry," Kakashi sighed at this immature kid. "And the fact that I'll die if I eat over my limit."

Kakashi's This-kid's-lost-my-respect Expression changed into a surprised one. "What do you mean?"

"It's kind of like this, if a person starves for 3 weeks, and eats a feast in the end, the person will die due to the sudden change of eating habits, their body won't handle it. The same thing's happening to me, but I can't gradually increase my food portions even slightly, believe me, I tried. I once decided to have one extra spoonful of soup, and they took me to the hospital to pump my stomach out."

"Well I just lost my appetite," said Kakashi

"You asked for it," replied Kiyoshi.

They reached the battlefield where they fought the previous day. Naruto's mouth opened in shock, when he saw what happened to the previously grassy training fields. The whole terrain was scarred with big craters and long deep lines of dug out earth created by people fighting. Closer observation showed that most of the footprints were Kakashi's. There were halves of trees and rocks all over what used to be considered a field.

Kakashi looked at Naruto's shock, and said, "Hmm, I'll need to get Yamato to fix all this." then remembered why they came back. "Oi, Naruto! Go and play hide and seek with the kids will ya?"

"Hey!!! What am I a babysitter?!"

The kids screaming "Naruto you're counting" cut off the spiky haired blond, and so he ran off giggling.

"That guy has A.D.D." Said Kiyoshi

"Ya think?" confirmed Kakashi, and led Kiyoshi to his weights.


	3. Chapter 3 Sore Back

Chapter 3 

Kiyoshi felt nice and steady from putting his weights back on.

"So you didn't explain why you keep them a secret." Kakashi reminded Kiyoshi of the conversation that went off-track.

"I thought you might've forgotten about that. I'll tell you, I used to use them as a secret weapon, started wearing them about 4 years ago and kept adding on little by little ever since. But later on, when I reached about 600 pounds or so, I began to have poor balance and became unsteady if I took them off. So I created a weak point for myself, and I'm trying to keep it a secret. I'm sure glad it was you that found the weights and not Ino or that blabbermouth Naruto. Will you keep my secret?"

"Sure, but never fight me, or I'll have to use that weakness of yours," agreed Kakashi

"Thanks, and I trust that nobody else knows of this?"

"Actually, the two kids know, they saw the weights when I was taking them off." They both looked at the mess of the field and the kids playing in it.

"Aw crap." Kiyoshi bowed his head down in disappointment.

"I don't think it's a problem, I know a very competitive friend and his student who might help you gain control of that excess strength of yours."

"Will they really help me?" asked Kiyoshi Inquisitively "what are they like?

"They are always training, have good morals, and a misguided sense of fashion."

"Well┘ I guess it can't hurt to try, but I think it's better if you introduce me in a few days, I want to go around town for a day or two, check out the scenery."

"Very well, but prepare yourself for what will probably be the hardest training session you'll ever experience."

They looked back at Naruto and the kids, called for them and started walking back to the Village.

The next morning, everyone within a half-kilometer radius woke up from a somewhat familiar scream. Kiyoshi woke up in yet another environment, this time his back was still aching, and once again Ino was standing over him, but at least it didn't smell like Vic's nose drops.

"What are you doing here? Why am I on the bed? And this time I'm allowed to scream!!! Muahahahah!!!"

Ino was somewhat confused by Kiyoshi's hyper behavior, but answered his questions "I'm here to check up on you, and I put you on your bed because you fell off of it during the night."

"I didn't fall off the bed... I always sleep on the floor."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm used to it! Now my back is sore!!!" Complained the sugar driven youth.

This caused Ino to get dramatically sad, and she pretended to faint and fall on his lap.

Kiyoshi put his I-don't-give-a-damn face on, and pinched her nose shut. Ino pretended to be fast asleep and started breathing through her mouth, which he then clogged shut with a sock. Ino jumped up pulling the sock out of her mouth and gasping for air.

"You're no fun!" she turned around and crossed her arms.

He started dressing, and saw her peeking. "That's it! Get out!" and pushed her out the front door still not wearing a shirt. He then slammed the door and locked it up with three locks.

Ino stood outside blushing and smiling "Oh you, I'll wait out here then, we'll go for a walk! Alright?"

"Fat chance" whispered Kiyoshi, finished dressing and started climbing out the window.

His first stop was to get some groceries and bring them back home "should be fine, by the time I'm done she'll have already figured out that I'm gone and probably leave me alone." he thought to himself, he grinned at the idea of having the whole day to himself.

An hour later, he finished grocery shopping and was on his way home looking like a pack mule. He accidentally bumped into Sakura who was standing in his way. Waiting for Kiyoshi with her arms crossed and eyes fixed on him; she wasn't too pleased.

"Oh, hi Sakura!" he looked up at her shifting the weight of his groceries.

She didn't change her face expression, and said, "She's into you... a lot!"

"Yeah... haha is she nuts or what?"

"I don't care if she is, she's my friend and you're still a stranger to me. If you're not interested in her, say so."

"I'm not interested"

"Not to me, tell her..." she points at Ino still waiting outside Kiyoshi's residence.

"Oh my god... is she still there? Why is she still there?!" Kiyoshi exclaimed pointing out what an idiot Ino is.

"She's not usually like this, you have that effect on her. Fix this situation or I'll make your life miserable."

"You already are" Kiyoshi slightly shifted his groceries and started walking around Sakura. "You're right, she has to know that I'm not interested, I want peace, but if you really are her friend, you'll get her to stop stalking me, or I'll dump her so hard that even your head will spin. Just to make sure that she leaves me alone."

Sakura stood there for a few moments shocked, taking in what he just said to her. "I guess he really does care about other people's feelings" Sakura thought to herself.

Kiyoshi walked up to the house and Ino ran up to him. "So how about that walk now?"

He walked right by her pretending to not notice the girl, walked into his house and locked the door.

Ino melted "Oh my god! He's so cool!"

Sakura couldn't stand Ino's affection, rushed over and dragged her away by the ear.

Kiyoshi thought to himself "this is the life, no worries, good in the fridge, a useless bed taking up space..."

At that exact moment, Shino was passing by Kiyoshi's house and a bed flew out the window with shards of glass thrown all over the place. Then a flow of chakra poured out of the hole that used to be a window, picking up all the shards and reforming the glass screen. Shino took a moment to examine the house along with the bed in its front lawn, and carried on with his morning stroll.

Several minutes later Naruto came running up to the house pounding on the door. "Let me in Kiyoshi! I'm being chased by dogs!!!"

Kiyoshi's voice came from the inside "do you smell like dog too?"

Naruto took a moment to smell himself and replied "No", the door opened and Naruto rushed inside.

"So┘ what brings you to my place instead of your girlfriend Sakura's?" asked Kiyoshi

Naruto blushed and replied, "She won't let me in... And also the fact that Tsunade has asked for you."

"And why were the dogs chasing you?"

"Because I tried to spray paint them in their sleep."

"Okay... That's going on my list of 'smart things to do'." He observed Naruto's mindless shrug, and chuckled. "Let's go to Tsunade's"

"Lets wait a bit, those dogs have rabies."

"Kakashi-sama said that you're good at shadow replication. Has it occurred to you to actually use kage-bushins to lure the dogs away?"

"No"

"Alright then, has it occurred to you now?"

There was a small pause, eventually Naruto replied "yes"

"Good, now use it"

Naruto crossed his fingers screamed "Kage Bushin No-Jutsu!!!" and a clone poofed out of thin air. The clone jumped out through the window as Naruto and Kiyoshi watched. The dogs all jumped at Naruto's imposter and sunk their teeth into the clone. The Kage Bushin started walking away with dogs hanging from every square foot of his body.

"Haha well that was quite something." laughed Kiyoshi as they stepped out and headed towards Tsunade's office.

When they arrived there, Tsunade asked them in. "Kiyoshi, I understand you didn't pass Kakashi's test, so therefore I have no reason to let you into the Village." Kiyoshi was a bit confused because this isn't the Tsunade that Kakashi spoke of. "However" this caught his attention "Kakashi gave me a report on the test and..." a grin formed on her face "I'm Impressed. You see, nobody actually ever passed the given test, except of course Naruto and Sakura, because Naruto read a book that he shouldn't have!"

"Gah I didn't read it!!! I used it to trick Kakashi sensei into blocking his ears and eyes!!!" exclaimed Naruto pointing his index finger at Tsunade.

"And it worked?" asked Kiyoshi

"Yeah, well it wouldn't have for you, seeing he didn't read the book to the end when I was fighting him."

Tsunade felt a change of conversation so she prodded them back in line, "but the main test was behind the text. The test was an observation on how one values their team, and you passed with 147"

Kiyoshi's eyes widened, never has he heard someone say such nonsense as 147. Yet here was a Hokage feeding the number to him.

"Anyways, I've decided to let you stay, and even convinced the Senate to accept you by calling a in personal favor." she leaned over to him and signaled him to do the same "in return you have to bring me chocolate every time you step into my office."

That last request somewhat surprised Kiyoshi, he didn't know whether to respect Tsunade, or consider her sanity. "Thank you very much, I look forward to doing missions with your Shinobi." he remembered something "oh, and Tsunade, I have one more request."

"What is it?"

"It's regarding the missions, I have a moral code to follow."

"Say no more, no assassination or assault missions."

Kiyoshi was once again surprised. This time, more than all other surprises combined together. "How do you know about my code?"

"It's my business to know who's visiting me, and Akane is a good friend of mine."

'Akane', the name he didn't hear for a long time. "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

Kiyoshi and Naruto walked out of Tsunade's office with her yelling "bring this meeting's portion of chocolate next time!"

"What was that all about?" asked Naruto

"None of your business, oh clueless one."


	4. Chapter 4 Newcomer

Chapter 4 

Naruto and Kiyoshi were walking down the street to Naruto's favorite Ramen stand. They were talking, but Kiyoshi's second mind noticed something strange, he got a feeling as if being followed. The follower wasn't hard to notice due to the affectionate aura that they released.

"Must be that Ino girl" Kiyoshi thought to himself "I wonder if Naruto's noticed her too." then forgot about it and carried on with his unintelligent conversation with the blond kid beside him.

At the exact same moment, Sakura had managed to tie Ino up to a tree, and was using a coin on a string to hypnotize her.

"You are under my control..."

"Untie me forehead girl!!!" screamed Ino at Sakura

"Not until I change you back to Ino" replied Sakura. This time seeing as hypnosis wasn't working, she decided to approach this with a different method. She pulled a cross from her pouch and screamed, "The power of Christ compels you!!!" waving the cross in Ino's face.

Naruto and Kiyoshi had already reached 'Ichiraku Ramen' and ordered their meals, after hearing Naruto's order, Kiyoshi started wondering how Naruto's financial statements looked. That feeling as if somebody's watching them was still there.

"Ino isn't a shy girl, this can't be her" Kiyoshi thought getting slightly annoyed about getting so worked up over the subject. "I hope this doesn't turn out nasty," he accidentally said out loud.

"Huh?" asked Naruto

"Oh sorry, kind of lost in my thoughts." Kiyoshi apologized, but then decided to ask Naruto a question. "Say Naruto, have you noticed that somebody's been following us since Tsunade's building?"

"No I haven't... were we?" Naruto asked surprised, and then got angry "Come out and show yourself!!!" he screamed into the street, making everyone turn around and look at the Idiotic teen.

"Sit down or I'll never hang around you again," said Kiyoshi, to which Naruto sat down quickly without a word. "If somebody's following us, you can't scare them off like that. If it's battle, they'll know that they've been spotted. If you notice them and stay quiet, you'll have the element of surprise, in addition to which, they'll get cocky thinking that they have the upper hand."

Naruto stared at Kiyoshi "what if it isn't a battle?"

"Then think Naruto! Why else can somebody be following you?"

"Several reasons, they could be spying, or..." he thought back to the mission where he had to find the scent bug "or they could be waiting for you to find something to take it away."

Kiyoshi was a bit surprised at such a detailed example. "If they're spying, they want information on you. Therefore you have to feed them false information, but you have to think what kind of information you have to feed them, don't say something stupid that you might regret later. If it's the other case you mentioned, you have to set up a trap without them noticing, or if that's impossible, come up with a plan."

Naruto thought about this and realized that he forgot what got this conversation started in the first place. "So what do we do in this situation?"

"We eat, nobody's watching us anymore, you scared the girl away." Answered Kiyoshi.

They talked a while until Naruto finished eating his 24th bowl of Ramen. Kiyoshi managed to learn that Naruto is all about little thinking and brute force. Naruto told him about people that Kiyoshi had to meet, Kiyoshi was anxious to meet his future teammates.

On the way back Kiyoshi started wondering again who it was that was stalking Naruto previously, because usually after being chased away, the stalker returns to what they were doing before, "I guess they were more interested in Naruto. He was coming to a corner when from around it came a guy with long black hair and nearly collided together. They stopped a foot away from eachother face to face; this guy had pale eyes, a forehead protector, and a serious attitude.

"What's your business here?" asked the guy

Kiyoshi tried to recall if Naruto told him of someone like this, but he didn't. "Umm, sorry?"

"What is your business in Konoha?" rephrased Neji

"I'm a new citizen, and I live here," answered Kiyoshi ignoring the guy's attitude.

"I'm sorry, but may I have some proof?" Neji said

"What's this all about?"

"We don't like strangers in Konoha, so if you aren't one, soon people will get to know you and not ask you, but until then, may I see proof of your citizenship?"

Kiyoshi didn't realize that he was supposed to have proof, Tsunade didn't give him anything. "Umm..."

He was cut off by a voice from above "It's ok, he didn't get any, but he's with me for now." It was Kakashi; he was crouching on top of the fence.

"Fine, but since you're here, may I know your name so that I can make sure?"

"I'm Kiyoshi"

"Neji" with that they shook hands and Neji walked away

"What's his problem?" asked Kiyoshi

"He's from a strict family, The Hyuga family, and he was disciplined a lot. You might bump into him often, and perhaps even have missions together." replied Kakashi and jumped off the fence. "I'll show you around more since Naruto failed to do so."

"Ahh yes... him and his A.D.D." smiled Kiyoshi

"Yeah, so what do you think of Konoha so far?"

"Well... It'll take time getting accustomed to, and people act strangely, especially around Naruto."

"Well, it's not really my place to tell you why, but he should tell you once he warms up to you."

"I thought he already warmed up to me, he's all over the place when we talk." with that, the conversation died and they were walking quietly for a while until Kiyoshi remembered something else and asked. "Um... when Naruto and I were walking to Ichiraku Ramen, I noticed somebody was following us, and from what I can tell is affectionate towards Naruto."

"Hah, you figured it out in half a day, when Naruto couldn't for 5 years. Haha..." This amused Kakashi.

This confused Kiyoshi a lot, "5 years? Naruto's been stalked for 5 years and didn't notice?" Kiyoshi thought to himself. Then asked, "How did he pass as a ninja?"

Kakashi stopped and gave Kiyoshi a serious look "don't underestimate Naruto, he may not be as sharp as some of the people you've fought, but his spirit and emotion make up for it. He'll never give up until he gets what he reaches for." Kiyoshi smiled at what he just heard and understood what Kakashi meant completely. Kakashi saw Kiyoshi's smile and was stumped by something so he asked "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Understand Naruto so quickly? It took me an A-class mission and a near-death experience to understand him, and I knew his deepest secret for that matter."

"We have somewhat same morals, whenever I do something, I put my soul into it. I don't do anything half-assed or just for sake of getting it done. If I don't have the soul for it, I put it aside until I do. But one thing that's opposite in our morals is the fact that he looks for fights."

"Alright, I've heard enough. As for who's stalking Naruto, I think being the sharp smartass you are, you'll figure it out soon enough."

"Fine. Now show me around town. What's that over there?"

"That's a house"

"Ooh..."

Several hours had passed and Kiyoshi was getting back to his place because it was getting late. He only got through half the things he wanted to do, and only seen one quarter of the Village. As he was nearing the house he saw the bed in his front lawn that he tossed out through his window earlier. "Aw man, I got to get this back to Tsunade tomorrow." he thought to himself. Walked into his house to find out that it's being trashed by Ino. He saw Sakura trying to catch up to stop her, but was miserably failing. He caught Sakura by the arm, "What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry about this, I tried to change her mind about you and accidentally made her worse."

"Now she's actually insane, what did you do? Torture her?"

"Heh..." Sakura smiled and rubbed the back of her head.

Kiyoshi looked at her slightly disturbed and thought to himself "what a scary girl, I can't believe Naruto likes her."

"So what do we do? Wait until she tires herself out?"

"I got a better idea, get out of my house and let me handle this." He pushed Sakura out and closed the door. He walked up to Ino who was excessively hyper and very Kiyoshi-crazed, she still didn't notice him and was jumping all over the place looking for his personal stuff. "Hey Ino!" Without turning to see him, the blonde girl jumped on him and tightened her grip around his waist. He picked her up in a classic bride-carrying scene, and smiled.

Her eyes started sparkling and she screamed out, "Oh Kiyoshi! You player!!!"

He started carrying her and said, "Yeah, I do that sometimes." to which she started to make kissy-lips at him. At that point, he opened the door and tossed her out. "You know..." he said "I don't like it when people come into my house uninvited." he closed the door and locked it.

Sakura stared at the door freaked out by how calmly he took that situation. "Oh well, let's go home Ino..." she looked at Ino who was sleeping on the porch of Kiyoshi's house, and thought to herself "damn, I'll have to carry her home now."

With that, Kiyoshi made himself some Garlic-Shrimp, ate it, and put himself to sleep trying to remember his past.


	5. Chapter 5 The Bed

Chapter 5

"Aah!!!" screamed Kiyoshi when he woke up in the morning, this time the place didn't smell like Vic's nosedrops, and his back wasn't sore. But the annoying stalker was still watching over him. "Get out of my house!!!"

At that moment, Shino was out for yet another morning stroll. He walked by the house with the bed in the front lawn, stopped and looked at it. The door flung open, and out came flying Ino. Shino looked at the unconscious blonde, then decided to knock on the door and meet the infamous lover of tossing stuff.

Shino walked up to the door and knocked.

"Ino, leave me alone or I'll hit you so hard that you'll forget that you find me attractive" Kiyoshi's voice came from the inside.

"I'm not Ino, my name is Shino." he replied

The door opened and Kiyoshi let him inside. Still not wearing a shirt, he walked into the house leaving the door open for Shino to walk in. "Shino eh?" He started cleaning up after the previous night's Ino rampage. "I'm Kiyoshi." he said not turning around to speak to the guest. "Have a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."

"Thank you." replied Shino as he sat down on a nearby squeaky chair.

Kiyoshi put a shirt on, and went to the kitchen. Five minutes later, he came back out with a tray with tea, and offered it to Shino. Shino declined. "Suit yourself," he put the tea on a table, pulled up a chair, sat down and started drinking his tea. "So what brings you to my place?"

"You're a pig." said Shino looking around the messed up residence, and out the window at the bed in the front lawn.

"Oh, sorry about the mess, I got big pests to deal with."

"You tossed out Ino just now."

"I stand by whet I just said."

Shino lifted an eyebrow and decided to drop the topic. Instead he asked "When did you come to Konoha, I've never seen you before."

"A few days ago, I'm still adjusting. I find your beds so uncomfortable... speaking of which I got to take that bed back to Tsunade, want to tag along?"

"Sure, I got nothing better to do except train."

Kiyoshi saw the hooded teen's forehead protector and was surprised that he didn't notice it before. "I'll put my coat on, and we'll go." He put his trench-coat on, walked out of the house with Shino, and started locking the door.

"You don't need to do that, nobody in this village will try to come into your house." said Shino.

"I think it's for the best, as a matter of fact, I think I'll need about five more, and bulletproof glass for the windows." Said Kiyoshi as he was lifting the bed from the front lawn.

"Suit yourself, but it's a bother." Said Shikamaru coming up to Shino and Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi remembered Naruto speaking about someone who found everything bothersome. "You must be Shikamaru." and found himself not able to move. "Ah, what did you bind me for?"

"How do you know my name? We've never met before." demanded Shikamaru with a serious look.

"Naruto told me, now please release me." Kiyoshi explained. To shich Shikamaru released.

"Naruto told you about Shikamaru and not me?" asked Shino somewhat dishearted.

"You know eachother?" asked Kiyoshi

"Yeah, Most of the teen shinobi, we have a History with." Shikamaru answered for Shino.

Kiyoshi became interested, and started wondering why Naruto didn't speak of Shino. "alright, Let's go to Tsunade, I still have to return this bed, you'll tell me some of your history together on the way."

The trip took half an hour, they weren't in any hurry to get there, so Shikamaru told about the Sand's attack on Konoha, and various other missions. Kiyoshi was surprised at how much Naruto left out... that silly kid.

"So the alliance with the Sand is reestablished?"

"Yes, and we consider some of the people we fought as friends. Namely Gaara" said Shikamaru.

"Gaara?" Kiyoshi thought to himself. "there must be something else that I didn't catch."

"I know what you're thinking" said Shikamaru, "He changed because of Naruto, and is now the Kazekage."

Kiyoshi nearly lost his grip on the bed "wow... Naruto is definately something else."

"We've all learned that the hard way, you must understand that his loneliness to appreciate him properly." and that ended the conversation.

When they reached Tsunade, Kiyoshi remembered what she said his previous visit. "Hang on, hold the bed, I'll be right back" he tossed the bed to Shikamaru and ran off into the distance.

Crushed by the bed, Shikamaru screamed "Shino get this thing off of me!!!"

Shino helped Shikamaru with the bed "he's stronger than he looks. But where did he run off to?"

"He's off to get Tsunade chocolate" said Kakashi from the above, squatting on a lamp post.

"I hope he knows where he's going. What do you think of him Kakashi?" asked Shikamaru still lying on the ground from the attack of the flying bed.

"I think he's interesting, he's a quick thinker and observer."

"That's not what I meant, Do you think he's safe to be around?" asked Shikamaru, ironically still feeling the effects of being crushed by Kiyoshi's bed toss.

Kakashi considered this, and said "I'm actually not sure, but so far he hasn't asked anything about anyone's techniques or any vital Information on Konoha. I think it's safe to wait and see."

"He seems to be kind of private, does anyone know anything about him?" asked Shino.

"You shouldn't be talking." replied Kakashi. "But you're right, that's exactly why I'm here, I wanted to discuss that with Tsunade."

Kiyoshi came running back "Hey Kakashi!!" tackled him off the post and came tumbling to the ground. When the dust cleared, there was a crater with Kakashi and Kiyoshi in the middle.

"Whoa Kakashi-sensei, have you gained weight? A lot of weight?" asked Shikamaru in a teasing matter.

"Ugh, what did you do that for Kiyoshi?" asked Kakashi getting up and brushing himself off.

"I was just happy to see you." answered Kiyoshi with a grin.

"I just hope he doesn't tackle me every time he sees me." though Kakashi "Alright... let's go see Tsunade." Kiyoshi picked up the bed and the four of them entered the building. As they were walking down the hallway, Kakashi turned to Kiyoshi "You know, you don't have to get her chocolate every time, most of us just say that we forgot."

"I know, the chocolate's importance is weak, but I'm grateful to her. Plus I have my own reasons." Answered Kiyoshi said in a low voice, "any friend of Akane is a friend of mine."

"What?" Kakashi didn't pay attention to the last part.

"Don't concern yourelf with it." answered Kiyoshi. "After this I want to go talk to Naruto, do you know where he might be?"

"when he's not sleeping, doing missions or eating ramen, he is usually training, lately on training field 14." answered Shikamaru.

"Thanks, I have some things to ask of him, but I guess I need some training as well."

Tsunade was going through the ever increasing pile of documents when there came a knock on her door, "Enter". Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at the bed on Kiyoshi's back "so what brings this group and bed to my place?"

"We're with him" Shino and Shikamaru at the same time both pointing at Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi said "I'm with them." and pointed at Shino and Shikamaru

"And once they're done I need to discuss something with you." added Kakashi

"Alright, what's this all about Kiyoshi? and why are you carrying a bed? There's an invention called a sleeping bag." teased Tsunade.

Kiyoshi looked at the bed and back at Tsunade "I want to return this, but I wasn't sure where to. So I decided to ask you."

"Very well, but only after you give me the chocolate" said Tsunade eyeing the chocolate sticking out of Kiyoshi's pocket.

"Here you go, enjoy." Kiyoshi came over to the desk and gave it to Tsunade

"Why do you want to return the bed?"

"I sleep on the floor."

"Oh, you're one of those people. Fine, go to the storage and put it there, here's a note with my permission to get past the guards." Said Tsunade scribbling something on a piece of paper. "Do you know where to go?" Kiyoshi shook his head "Then Shikamaru and Shino will accompany you."

"Thanks Tsunade-sama. I got another question though; do you still stay in contact with Akane?" Tsunade nodded "Next time you send a letter or message, say hi for me, will you?"

"Will do, now get out of my office, Kakashi wishes to speak to me." replied Tsunade, chasing the three teens out with her stare. "What can I do you for Kakashi?"

"Is he safe to keep around, Tsunade?" asked Kakashi very directly.

"He's fine, he was raised by a very close friend of mine. Her name's Akane, and from what she wrote to me, I'm impressed by him. He reminds me of Naruto on a smaller scale. He has a good heart and his intentions are good. Furthermore, I won't tell you anything about him seeing as it's not my place to. If you want to know his history, convince him to tell you. I'm not going to tell you because I simply just don't know, even Akane doesn't know what happened to him before she took him in."

"Why doesn't he tell anyone?"

"Simple... he doesn't know himself. I tried to restore his memory when he just came, but that nearly killed him."

"At least I can tell everyone to be at ease with him around." said Kakashi turning around to leave "I'll ask him more about himself and report it back to you."

"fine. Oh and Kakashi..." Kakashi turned around, "I want to put the kid on his first mission, I'll send you, Kiyoshi, Naruto, and..." She thought a bit, and something made her grin. "Hinata will come too." Kakashi smiled at the idea. "If he really is as resourceful as you reported him Kakashi, he'll sort those two out."

"When will this mission take place?"

"In two days, you'll be going to the wave country on a simple recovery mission, I'll brief you about it later."

"Good, I'll introduce Kiyoshi to Gai and Lee tomorrow, he needs their help."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a secret, I'll tell you later."

"You didn't have to mention it to me then, now i'm curious." said Tsunade disappointed.

With that, Kakashi disappeared the way all ninjas do.

Kiyoshi, Shino, and Shikamaru were on the way to the storage, Shino and Shikamaru were still wondering what Kiyoshi's history was, They told him theirs, but he kept quiet about himself.

"Say Kiyoshi, where were you born?" asked Shikamaru

The question changed Kiyoshi's happy attitude and smile into sadness. "I don't know..." he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" asked Shikamaru

"My last name is Inamotou." explained Kiyoshi, "when Akane took me in, that's the name she gave to me. because I don't know my origins."

Shikamaru felt like a jerk for ruining Kiyoshi's day, but felt Kiyoshi's slight resemblence to Naruto again.

"Don't worry about it." said Kiyoshi with the resurrected smile.

A memory came to his mind. He was standing in Tsunade's office. her desk was covered in an unorganized pile of papers as usual, and they were drinking tea, discussing him.

"Kazuo... what do you mean you have no history?" asked Tsunade.

"I don't remember my parents or where I come from." answered the blond teen in a trench coat.

Tsunade thought for a moment. "I know you're still a stranger here, and it's against every regulation to revive your memory, but how about it? want to get your memory back?"

Kazuo smiled, but inside ever slightly worried. "definately."

Two hours later, he was lying on a floor with markings on him and on the floor around him. Several medic-nin went through hand seals and he fell asleep. the next thing he could remember was Tsunade leaning over him screaming for him to not leave. He opened his eyes to see terror in hers.

"That was a close call, glad to have you back." said Tsunade in relief and fell back.

"Why? What happened?" asked the blond boy still waking up and feeling sore all over.

"You went into shock and nearly died, for safety reasons, I suggest you don't try revivng your memory again. But still I wonder, do you remember anything?"

His eyes opened wide and a shock came through his body. Then a smile crept across his face. "Kiyoshi" he said quietly.

"What?"

"My name is Kiyoshi." he repeated.

"anything else?"

"no" Kiyoshi replied. He was a bit disappointed that nothing else came back, but was glad that something survived from his parents.

The three teens reached the storage, and after the guards questioned him for 10 minutes, Kiyoshi eventually got in, set the bed on the floor, and left. 


	6. Chapter 6 Stalking Hinata

Chapter 6 

Shikamaru and Shino left to meet their teams to train, and Kiyoshi was on his way to training field 14 to have a nice conversation with Naruto.

"Hey Naruto!" Kiyoshi yelled running up to him "how's it going?"

"Hey Kiyoshi! Want to train together? I need a sparring partner." asked Naruto

"Alright" answered Kiyoshi, but was slightly disturbed by that someone watching them again.

"Kage Bushin No-Jutsu!" screamed Naruto crossing his fingers on his chest, and creating 15 clones of himself.

"Naruto, I can't go against so many opponents without being serious. I'll use my Kodachis, but I don't want to hurt you, so only attack with your clones."

"You can't hurt me, but let's see what you're capable of." answered Naruto.

15 Narutos charged Kiyoshi, but the real one stayed back. Kiyoshi unsheathed his dual kodachis, and engaged the swarm using his airborne fighting. Kiyoshi was using the pack of Kage Bushin as his own playground, swinging off of one jumping off another slashing the third between the two motions. Eventually he jumped back away from the remaining three Bushin and was slightly surprised to only see the three of them, he only got rid of 11. Without warning, the ground under him erupted and out came a Naruto and made a blow to Kiyoshi's chin. Kiyoshi went with the blow, jumped up, and made a back flip in the air, and bounced off the tree into the Naruto to make him disintegrate into smoke.

Naruto summoned another 30 clones. Kiyoshi knew that he couldn't fight against so many in his current condition; although his technique allows him high evasion, it also brings him out into the open for many more attacks than normal taijutsu, and there are only so many enemies that his dual mind could concentrate on. He decided to activate his blood limit, three neon green stripes appeared in his eyes and started spinning leaving a tail of vanishing green; it looked somewhat like tri-sensor radar. The fight now advanced to the next level, punches came from all directions, and he knew the safe zones where he could move to next. He used every one of Naruto's flaws to his advantage, flipping in mid-air slashing through three Bushin at a time. There were four clones left, when Naruto summoned another hundred.

"Holy Crap! How much chakra do you have?!" Kiyoshi screamed at the original Naruto, after seeing countless Narutos surrounding him.

Naruto chuckled, and the clones attacked. "I'll tell you later, but right now you should concentrate on the task at hand."

Even Kiyoshi's split mind didn't give him enough to combat so many enemies. He was blocking and evading as well as slowly retreating from the Bushin's attacks. He decided to change the battlefield to be in his favor, so he ran through the forest with an army of Narutos on his tail and his coat waving around behind him. He found a massive scar in the forest with rock formations all over the place; this should be able to suit him.

"Naruto are you here?!"

"Yeah, I'm watching!"

Kiyoshi Ran up on top of a rock and made several hand seals. Narutos surrounded the rock and all jumped at Kiyoshi at the same time. Kiyoshi jumped out of the way, and finished his seals. The rock that he used to stand on exploded into millions of shards, cutting up and piercing two thirds of the Kage Bushin and making them disappear in a huge cloud of smoke.

Naruto summoned more, but was running out of his own chakra. All of a sudden, Kiyoshi's right eye started stinging. He burst out screaming and fell to his knees. The clones were surrounding him and were about to suffocate him with their numbers. He was going to be unintentionally killed by Naruto. He ran through a series of hand seals and cast a Genjutsu on the original Naruto to stop the fight. All the clones disappeared and the real Naruto was left standing alone in the middle of the field, drooling.

"Argh!!!" screamed Kiyoshi holding his right eye with both hands. The pain double with each passing second. Ten seconds in the world of pain passed, and the hurt dispersed. Kiyoshi lay on the ground groaning. He looked at his reflection in a nearby puddle of water, and was shocked to see that his right eye now had spikes coming from the iris, outwards. He wondered what this meant, but couldn't figure it out. When he got up and looked at Naruto, he got startled by the trail of chakra stretching out towards the whiskered teen from the forest. He walked into the forest and snuck around to see what the source of that chakra was. He saw a Girl with long dark hair and pale eyes looking at Naruto, worried out of her mind. "So you're Naruto's stalker?"

She turned in shock and saw him standing there smiling. "N-no I-I-I was just walking by and..."

"I know you have a thing for Naruto, you follow him all the time, I sensed your affection from a mile away." said Kiyoshi

Hinata turned and blushed slightly. Then looked at Naruto and back at Kiyoshi "what did you do to him?"

"Just a simple Genjutsu, nothing to worry about." answered Kiyoshi "I'm Kiyoshi Inamotou, what's your name?"

"I'm Hyuga Hinata."

Kiyoshi remembered that name, "Hinata eh? Naruto spoke of you."

"He did?" Hinata asked slightly worried.

"Yes, but as you may have guessed, he's quite clueless about you." Kiyoshi remembered the name 'Hyuga' and groaned, "This might get a bit messy you know, with your family being strict and all."

Hinata was unsure how to reply, but she was definitely sure about her feelings towards Naruto. All she did in reply was turn away.

"Alright, but you'll need to do a lot more than stand behind a tree if you wish to get together with him." with that, he disappeared and reappeared beside Naruto who was still standing, drooling. Then ran through another combination of hand seals to dispel the genjutsu. "Sorry I had to do that, but I needed to stop you." said Kiyoshi to Naruto.

"Don't do that again! I hate genjutsu!!!" he carried on with his screaming

Kiyoshi had tuned Naruto out completely, and was looking at Hinata's trail of Chakra. "Let's walk ant talk Naruto, I have some questions for you." he cancelled his blood limit and the trail of Chakra vanished from his view. "I wonder what Hinata was doing," he thought to himself.

"Fine.." pouted Naruto still embarrassed by not being able to get out of the genjutsu.

They started walking and Kiyoshi asked, "How can you make so many clones? It must take an enormous amount of chakra."

"It does, as a matter of fact, any longer and I would've run out, and then..." Naruto stopped and looked at his feet

"Then what would've happened?" asked Kiyoshi

"I got to tell you from the beginning, what do you know about the Kyubi?"

Kiyoshi's eyes widened, he's heard what was done to legendary creatures from Akane, and pieced the puzzle together. Naruto was about to continue, but Kiyoshi interrupted him. "Don't tell me you're the one that they sealed it inside."

Naruto was shocked at how quickly Kiyoshi realized Naruto's secret, and just from a simple question. "Yes... I have the Kyubi inside me."

"Is that why the villagers were looking at you in that way?"

"Yes, they hate me, a part of me is the monster that killed many of their loved ones."

"But why do they hate YOU? you know what, don't answer that, I get it. They're sick and prejudicial bastards."

"One day I'm going to be the Hokage of those prejudicial bastards so watch your mouth."

Kiyoshi looked at Naruto in surprise "Why do you defend them? They hate you for no reason what so ever."

"I don't hate them back, because I'm not like that. I want to prove myself to them, and show them that I'm worthy of their respect."

"Well until then you have mine." smiled Kiyoshi. "What about your family? What are their thoughts towards the Kyubi?"

Naruto lowered his head once again, and tightened his mouth. "I don't know who they were, I don't remember them; they died before I could."

This snapped something inside Kiyoshi, "What a guy, he's like me but with a twist. Everyone hates him. I'm the one that should be hated... I... Shouldn't be here..." Kiyoshi shook his thoughts off. "I'm sorry. I don't know my parents either, I don't know my family or where I was born at all, so I know how you feel."

Hinata was following them at a safe distance and eavesdropping on their conversation, but could only make out several words; parents, hate, respect. She wanted to run out and hug him but couldn't, he'd know that she was watching all this time, he wouldn't understand her love.

Kiyoshi was still aware of her presence so decided to try something. he put his hands around his back under the coat so that they were concealed. "This'll take some serious accuracy." he thought to himself and started forming seals, he said the technique under his breath and aimed it at Hinata, who was several dozen yards behind him, hidden from his aim. The first try failed, he missed, but he would keep trying until he got it right. After 7 blind tries, he eventually got her and relaxed himself, now to cancel his genjutsu at the right moment. "Naruto, I got to take a piss, wait for me here." Naruto nodded and Kiyoshi disappeared into the trees.

Hinata was following the two blond teens for a while, until she heard them say something about a race. They started running and she tried to keep up after them as quietly as possible.

Kiyoshi was looking from the side as Naruto was waiting. Hinata came running out into the opening, "Yes, it worked!" he said quietly to avoid detection. Then ran through a series of seals to cancel his genjutsu on Hinata.

Hinata found it hard to keep up with the two guys and was about to give up, when all of a sudden they disappeared and the real Naruto appeared in front of her, she didn't have enough time to stop. She closed her eyes preparing for impact, but Naruto caught her by the shoulders trying to soften the collision. Hinata swept him off his feet, and his hands slid off her shoulders. Their position was better than Kiyoshi could've imagined, Hinata was lying on top of Naruto with her cheek on his chest, and his arms were hugging her.

Hinata opened her eyes, and jumped up "I'm sorry Naruto-kun!" screamed the girl, flailing her head wildly out of embarrassment.

"It's alright Hinata. Say... what are you doing here?" Hinata's face reddened and turned away to look at him from the side. "Your face is kind of red, do you have a fever or something?" he felt her forehead, the girl reddened even more before she ran off.

Kiyoshi was sitting in the tree, petrified by what just happened, "You've got to be kidding me..." he sat there for a few moments, "This'll be harder than I thought." He jumped down from the tree, put on a satisfied face and walked out from the tree where he ran off earlier. "Ahh, that was good. Naruto you alright?"

Naruto was staring in the direction Hinata ran off, then turned to Kiyoshi and said "Yeah, I'm fine."

With Naruto's confusion and Kiyoshi's disappointment, they both went to Ichiraku Ramen.


	7. Chapter 7 Wise Green Beasts

Chapter 7 

Next morning Kiyoshi woke up with a scream again, tossed Ino out, got dressed, and decided to go out to find Kakashi or anyone to socialize with.

"Man... How can anyone be so clueless?" he thought as he walked past the unconscious blonde girl in his front lawn. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, she must really be thick in the head. Naruto too, what's up with that kid?" he kept on walking insulting Naruto in his mind, and noticed that somebody was following him. He turned around not bothering to reach into his pouch, already being used to the peace in the Village. He saw Hinata running towards him.

"Hello Kiyoshi-sama" she said to get his attention

Kiyoshi originally thought of Hinata being a shy girl, but then again he only met her once before. "Uh... hi, want to go for a stroll?"

"Sure," they started walking

"So... you're really into him that much?" Hinata blushed slightly, "I understand his good qualities, and I understand why you like him." he said to show his alliance. "But are you sure you like the whole of him?"

Hinata looked up at him, shocked. "I've liked him for as long as I can remember, and learned to love him just by watching him, don't question my affection please." replied Hinata, going on the offensive.

"I'm sorry, but I have to make sure, a crush has a way of blinding people from the negative side of a person. I'm sure you don't know every secret he has, just as I'm sure that he keeps many feelings bottled up." Hinata was about to go on the offensive again, but he interrupted. "Don't try to contradict me, and don't take my words as insults. All I'm asking is that you consider them for your own sake."

"Alright" she said quietly and thought about it for a few minutes as they walked. "What did you talk about yesterday?" she said referring to Kiyoshi and Naruto's talk on the way back from training field 14

"I'm not going to tell you." she looked down, disappointed. "Not because it's much of a secret..." she looked up at him again "I just want you to join in on the conversation next time, and perhaps train with us."

Now Hinata became curious, "I-I'll try..."

"No" Kiyoshi instantly replied, "You won't try, you'll do. As a matter of fact, if you keep following us and not showing yourself to Naruto, I won't just use a genjutsu on you, I'll chase you, catch you, and force you to talk to him." He concluded smiling.

Hinata never heard anyone speak to her like he did; he spoke with threats of helping her. "I'm glad you came to Konoha." Kiyoshi looked over at her "what I mean is, it's easy to constantly tell yourself 'today, is definitely the day I'll confess', but when the moment comes, you choke up." Kiyoshi knew what she meant. "Please keep your word and drag me out next time, I won't be able to do it myself."

Kiyoshi smiled "So that's what you're getting at... Alright, I'll help you, but don't ask me for any guidance, I had a lot of experience with relationships, but they never turned out nicely."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind that..." Kiyoshi suddenly remembered the previous day's training session on field fourteen. "Can you please tell me, what did you do yesterday back when I cast the genjutsu on Naruto? What was that jutsu?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Kiyoshi thought back to that moment, and remembered the trail of Chakra extending from her to Naruto. "You mean you didn't do anything or cast any jutsu?"

"No, I was just watching. As a matter of fact, what you did to him kind of scared me" Kiyoshi thought about it and decided to ask Kakashi about it later.

Something caught the blond teen's attention "Now tell me who they are." he pointed at two guys in green suits and bad haircuts training like there's a war planned for the next day. "Ah, never mind, I know." he remembered Kakashi speaking of a friend and his apprentice who were competitive and had bad sense of fashion. "Ok Hinata, I'm going to go say hi, but you better not stalk Naruto or I'll catch you and make you talk."

Hinata nodded "Bye Kiyoshi-kun" she said leaving him to meet Gai and Lee.

Kiyoshi walked over to the two having a race, doing one-handed pushups on the thumb. "Whoa..." stated the newcomer, catching their attention.

"Join us in the springtime of youth stranger!!!" screamed the two ninja simultaneously.

Kiyoshi was relieved by the fact that they didn't care about him being a stranger. "Alright!" he reached inside his coat under the armpits and pulled two long chains out. He used them to tie the ends of his long coat to his legs and made a handstand to see if it would fall. The coat didn't fall, so he walked on his hands over to the two people training as their eyes followed him.

As the two green beasts continued training, they started conversing with him "I've never seen you around before, tell me about yourself" said Gai.

"I'm new here, I just came a few days ago. My name's Kiyoshi" replied the teen breathing slightly off normal.

"I'm Gai and this is Lee, and we're Konoha's beautiful green beasts!!!" they got into what they considered a cool pose and then back to their thumb-stand.

"Nice to meet you, Kakashi mentioned you, I was wandering when I might get to talk to the two of you."

"Oh, did Kakashi refer to us because a task was too big for him to handle?" Gai said standing up Lee still doing his pushups listening to the conversation.

"He didn't seem to really care, but it's something that he said you would be able to help me with." explained Kiyoshi

"That Kakashi, always keeping his modern 'cool'... Anyways what did you need help with?" Asked Gai sensei

Kiyoshi got up, untied his chains, unraveled the rollups on his sleeves and pants, took off his weights and handed them to Gai who laid them on the ground. He undid the innards of his coat, some hidden compartments of his pants and various other hiding spots on his clothes, taking off more and more weights.

"I'm estimating about 950 pounds" said Lee "what's the problem?" he asked continuing his pushups looking at the pile of weights beside Gai Sensei.

"The problem is this," said Kiyoshi, jumping at the tree, attempting to jump off it and accidentally breaking through the meter diameter trunk with his leg.

"I see, you have lack of balance and control of your strength without the weights." concluded Gai

"Yeah" replied Kiyoshi "can you help me train it? I got no idea where to begin."

Gai thought about it and said. "Simple... as a matter of fact, you don't really need our help to gain control. All you do is take them off for an hour a day, or break it up into four separate fifteen-minute sessions. Dedicate that time to practicing your control of simple jumping and free movements without the weights. Don't keep them off for any longer or you'll start getting weaker. Until you master your control with your current weight, don't add any more."

"It's ok, I haven't added any for about three and a half years," answered Kiyoshi

"When did you start?"

"About four years ago."

Gai's eyes widened mouth opened and he kneeled down pointing his index finger at Kiyoshi "You put on 950 pounds in half a year?!"

"Yeah, my metabolism allows it."

"I don't want to know, I know how graphical those conversations can get." said Gai waving his palm at Kiyoshi.

"Alright" said Kiyoshi reattaching his weights on "But tell me, why did Kakashi refer to you and Lee?"

"Because Lee uses weights himself, and with my help, he advances as he adds more on." answered Gai.

"Alright, I'm going to go back home to make myself some breakfast," said Kiyoshi finishing attaching his weights and walking away waving goodbye.

"See you later!" Gai made a back flip and joined Lee to continue his upside down one-thumb pushups.

Kiyoshi walked back to his residence and saw Ino still lying from when he last tossed her out of his house, unconscious. "Ah crap, maybe I overdid it this time." he picked her up and carried her into his house.


	8. Chapter 8 Double Dare

Chapter 8 

Kiyoshi walked into the house carrying Ino in his hands, looked around and thought to himself, "Damn it, I took the bed back." he put her on the couch, took a pillow and slid it under her head. "Well, this day is turning out to be a bother, I wonder what'll happen next." He boiled a pot of tea, put it on a table near Ino and sat down on a chair next to her. Drinking his tea, he went through all the possible scenarios how the day could go. Eventually got bored and started reading a book.

Ino started coming around about half an hour later. Saw Kiyoshi reading the book and drinking tea beside her, she just lay there quiet looking at the ceiling with her hands on her stomach and fingers intertwined. "What do you like in a girl?" she asked Kiyoshi who didn't turn around.

"It doesn't matter," he answered with his primary mind focused on the book.

"Why?"

"Because I stopped dating a while back. Nothing ever works out for the better when I date." he explained without changing his expression

"What made you stop?"

Kiyoshi recalled the tears in his eyes as he left his sick ex-girlfriend, her father chasing him out of the house. "The fact that I'm simply not boyfriend material."

Ino didn't know what he meant, so asked "So do you find me attractive?"

Kiyoshi stopped reading his book, put a serious look on his face, turned to Ino looking very closely into her eyes and said "Ino, try to understand me. I'm not interested in dating."

"That's not the question."

Kiyoshi rolled his eyes and got back to his book "That's what the next question would be."

Ino thought about it, and found it to be true. "But why don't you answer the first question?"

"Because it doesn't matter if you're attractive or not. For example, you like me only for my looks..." he looked back at her "but you would learn in the end that you don't truly like me." turning back to his book

"That's not true, I would always like you."

Not taking his eyes of the book he replied, "look past the crush and you'll see what I mean. You don't know what I'm like; you didn't spend any time with me. You have to get together with someone who you find attractive in the mind, not the body."

"I didn't spend any time with you because you always toss me out!"

"Because it's become a morning routine. The first time I wasn't going to toss you out, but you decided to peek at me undressed."

She recalled the moment and smiled. "Yeah..."

"You killed your chance then. If you didn't, I would find you possible to converse with."

"You're pretty shy, aren't you," smirked Ino, "Besides, we're conversing now..."

"I decided to give you a second chance."

"Really?!!" she said with big sparkly eyes

"Not to get a date out of me, but so that we're able to socialize as friends."

She became disappointed "I see..."

"I'm going to make more tea." picked up the tray and went to the kitchen

"Alright" Ino lay on his couch, motionless with her hands on her stomach as if being in therapy. He came back seven minutes later with tea and set it up. "So┘ tell me about yourself." she asked

Kiyoshi was tired of telling everyone about himself, but it was necessary, if he didn't talk to her now, she would never stop being the first thing he sees when he wakes up. "Umm... I don't think that's something I can tell somebody." Ino became disappointed "I mean, the subject of 'what Kiyoshi is like' is something that has to be discussed with a stranger. And by stranger, I mean somebody who's not me."

"I see... do you want to go for a walk?"

Kiyoshi thought about it, not finding any harm in the idea he agreed. "Sure, let's go for a stroll."

Ino and Kiyoshi were walking down the street, in what she felt to be an awkward silence. Ino felt like grabbing Kiyoshi under the elbow to walk side by side like couples do. But couldn't, she would lose him. "Where are you from?" she asked in attempt to start up a conversation

"I don't know," replied the blond, no longer caring about the answer. The topic had been stumbled upon so many times that there was no longer any emotion brought on.

"Goddamn it" she thought to herself, and then internally scolded herself for making things worse.

"I don't know where I was born, or who my parents were. As a matter of fact, the only thing that I remember from them is my name, which I remembered after nearly dying."

Ino wanted to change the topic to something more cheery. A notice on the fence caught her attention and she burst out laughing pointing at it. "Look at that!"

Kiyoshi looked at the fence and too started laughing after reading the title of it "Strange ghost screams in the morning. Anybody with information on the ghost, please report it to the ghost-hunters" accompanied by a picture of two fat guys in goggles, spandex suits and holding two funny looking tools that look like water guns.

"That's somewhat scary..." said Kiyoshi lightening his laugh.

"That made my day."

Sakura saw the two of them laughing in the distance and thought to herself "What is wrong with that girl? She's never been so... so... Gah! What the hell did he do to her?!" she screamed the last part out.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!!!" Naruto was running towards her waving his arm in a greeting fashion.

"Ah crap, looks like I can't do anything at the moment," she thought to herself and disappeared to avoid Naruto's company.

"Aw, I was going to ask her out on a date." he looked down at the ground in disappointment then looked at the two people in the distance "I guess I'll hang out with those two." and started running towards them.

Ino saw Naruto running towards them "God damn it, I wanted some time alone with Kiyoshi..." thoughts were running through her head what she was going to do to Naruto after Kiyoshi wasn't around.

Naruto saw that he still wasn't spotted by Kiyoshi and decided to sneak up on him. Kiyoshi's primary mind was in relaxation thinking about the pretty clouds above him, but the secondary mind was on alert and in restless focus on the surroundings. Ino was wondering what would happen next, so she decided to not warn Kiyoshi of the sneaking up Naruto. When Naruto closed the distance to 5 meters, Kiyoshi disappeared from both Ino's and Naruto's view.

"Boo!" he scared the two of them hanging down from a lamppost above attached by his chains.

"Gah baka! Don't do that!" Naruto and Ino both screamed out at Kiyoshi.

"You both asked for it, Naruto for trying to sneak up and Ino for not telling me"

"Fair enough" said Ino

Naruto was still pissed off at how Kiyoshi made him look, "Fine..." he looked to the side pouting his heart out.

Kiyoshi noticed something and stepped into action right away. "Um, I got to go to the washroom, hand on I'll be right back." and ran off, around the corner.

"So..." said Naruto to Ino, who was about to tear him to shreds for interrupting her relaxing moments with Kiyoshi.

She grabbed him by the collar and said, "If you ever come in between me and Kiyoshi again, you won't survive to hear another rejection from Sakura."

Naruto made an uneasy face, and was sorry to have gotten into this mess. Then saw Kiyoshi coming from a different direction than he left, also dragging someone along with him. "What the..."

Ino turned around and saw Kiyoshi dragging Hinata towards them so she let Naruto go out of sympathy for Hinata. "Hey Kiyoshi, come back so soon?"

"Uhh┘ yea, and I found someone on my way back" he said introducing Hinata

"Hey Hinata-chan!" yelled Naruto in his loudest voice

"H-Hi Naruto-kun" she answered blushing, making small fists and covering her mouth with them out of shyness.

"Oh god, she wasn't this shy before, what's he problem now?" Kiyoshi thought to himself. "Hey, how about we all walk together through a trail in the forest?" He pulled Ino to the side "Ino, we got to get those two together, It's something on my 'to do' list before I die." He looked back at Naruto measuring Hinata's head for temperature. He shook his head at the scene and said "They're not going to get anywhere with his A.D.D. and her shyness. We got to help them."

Ino saw that he was into them getting together and decided to accept his Invitation. "Alright, but we got to make up a game-plan."

Kiyoshi thought about it for a moment, and said, "First we got to examine the situation. Here's the summary; She's in love and shy, his main problems are being clueless, and that he's Sakura-crazed. If we get her to confess, it'll solve the 'clueless' problem, but he'll reject her because of Sakura."

Ino thought about this for a moment and asked, "So what are we supposed to do?"

"For now, we have to play safely, and just get him to know her more."

"That's not going to get them anywhere."

"We can't push it now, because if he rejects her, it'll get worse... I don't know how much worse it can be, but it will be worse. Once this walk is over, we got to brainwash him out of his Sakura-crush." and shuddered at the thought of Naruto liking Sakura. "If you can come up with anything better for the time being, I'll be eternally grateful."

Nothing came to Ino's mind so she decided to go along with his plan "Alright, you lead."

They turned back at Naruto still trying to convince Hinata that she has a fever. "Alright Naruto, that's enough, she doesn't have a fever, all that redness is blush." at which Hinata reddened even more. "Now... how about that walk?" asked Kiyoshi

Naruto turned around to look at Kiyoshi and Ino "What the hell were the two of you doing? Making out?" asked Naruto regarding their absence.

"I wish," mumbled Ino

Naruto caught what she said and burst out laughing, "I feel sorry for you Kiyoshi!"

Ino burst into flames "Not as sorry as you will be when you're turned inside out!!!!"

"Ok, putting that aside, let's go." said Kiyoshi as they all started to walk.

Hinata was lost in a world of worry "What am I going to say? What if he mentions Sakura? What if he doesn't like me? Oh no, I have to run, get away from this place, I'll walk with them next time..." she turned around to run, and bumped into Kiyoshi, who was blocking her way.

"Oh no you're not!" he whispered to Hinata, turned her around, and with Ino's help pulled Hinata along for the walk.

"Please let me go, I'm not ready!" she whispered back in alarm.

"You're as ready as you're ever going to be." Replied the blonde girl to her right.

"What do you care Ino? You don't know what love is." Hinata whined for Ino to back off.

"So then teach me what love is" Ino replied still not looking at Hinata.

"Hinata, pull yourself together, calm down, he isn't that clueless..." Said Kiyoshi looking at the clueless Naruto walking ahead not paying attention to the epic battle behind him "Is he?"

Hinata pulled courage out of nowhere and started walking instead of being dragged along "Okay, I'll try" she whispered

"About time" said Ino.

"You don't have to confess, I think you'll pop an artery if you do something as drastic as that. All we're asking you to do is talk to him, get him to know your sensitive side." explained Kiyoshi.

"Osu" said Hinata running up to Naruto. "H-H-HI NARUTO-KUN!"

Naruto screamed and jumped clinging to a branch above him with all fours, and then remembered that he was walking with other people. "Oh, hi there Hinata, I forgot I wasn't alone." and started laughing.

Kiyoshi thought he could use this time to train, so he turned to the girl beside him "Ino, you keep an eye on them, if there's a single word of Sakura, I want you to make a scene or interfere with something that'll make them change the subject."

"Where are you going?" asked Ino

"I'll be right back" explained Kiyoshi, and ran behind a tree. He started taking his weights off and putting them in a stash under the tree. When he was done, he walked around and marked the tree off with an 'S' mark. Then he ran out and decided to catch up with the group. He ran so fast that he was barely able to change direction to avoid crashing into trees, tripped and flew past Ino landing 5 meters in front of her.

"What th... Kiyoshi? Are you alright?" asked Ino, coming to pick him up

"Ugh... Next time, I'll only take half of them off. Ino, stay away from me for now, I'm unstable and might accidentally hurt you." He said waving his hand to signal her not to come any closer.

"Why? What happened? Were you attacked?" Ino asked with a worried face.

"Don't mind me, I'm training something, I'll tell you once I get the hang of it." He started getting up slowly with his hands at his sides to keep balance. "You go catch up to them, I'll be right back." he ran off at an invisible speed.

"What the hell was that?" thought Ino in confusion.

"I got to get my weights back on, or someone will get hurt," thought Kiyoshi as he was running past trees, looking for the 'S' mark. Once he found it, he realized that he passed this point twelve times. There were countless Kiyoshi-footprints stacked one over the other, as if a stampede of blond haired teens ran through there. Once he was done putting the weights on, he got back to the group.

"Are you alright?" asked Ino looking at the bruised up and bleeding Kiyoshi.

"I'll be fine, I just need practice." and they looked back at Naruto conversing with Hinata. "I think they're doing good"

Ino nodded "Hinata was worried but seems to be able to talk to him normally. It's true what they say, all she needed was confidence."

The two pairs walked down the trail, talking with the absence of awkward silences.


	9. Chapter 9 How old are you?

Chapter 9 

Kiyoshi, Ino, Naruto and Hinata were walking down the street when they spotted Sakura and Kakashi coming their way.

Sakura pointed at Kiyoshi and screamed "That guy's clouding Ino's mind!"

"Calm down Sakura, Ino can do whatever she wants, don't get into her business." said Kakashi, then turned to the group. "Ah, the whole group's here, I won't have to go around collecting you all."

The group of hikers looked over eachother in confusion and Kiyoshi asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Tsunade called you, Naruto and Hinata for a mission briefing, and I'm going to be leading the mission," explained Kakashi

Kiyoshi tried to add all of this up. Him being put to a mission so early after arrival, Naruto and Hinata being on the same team, and Kakashi being the master of 'make out tactics' being the leader of this mass confusion. He understood what's happening and smiled "Kakashi-sama, may I talk to you in private?"

"Sure thing Kiyoshi." agreed Kakashi walking off to the side with Kiyoshi

"So Tsunade wants them together as well?" asked Kiyoshi

Kakashi raised an eyebrow "Damn you're quick. You're right, she does, no matter how much conflict this'll stir up in the Hyuga family. Oh and another thing, I want this to happen just as much."

"Good, Ino and I have been getting Naruto to know Hinata better today. Here's the problem, we need to get rid of Naruto's crush on Sakura, and it's not going to be easy so we'll need as much time as we can get before we leave on whatever mission Tsunade assigned for us." explained Kiyoshi

"You certainly have this all planned out. Here's the deal, I'll go and talk to Tsunade later, right now leave Naruto to Me, Sakura and Ino. Take Hinata for the briefing." Said Kakashi.

"Thanks, we'll go now." Kiyoshi and Kakashi walked back to the group

"Don't leave me with all the girls next time!!!" screamed Naruto; "they were talking about girly stuff," whimpered the blond kid.

Kiyoshi ignored Naruto's nonsense and carried on with the plan. "Hinata, you and I will go to the briefing alone, Naruto and Kakashi have some talking to do." He comes over to Ino and whispers, "You know what to do, Kakashi and Sakura will help you out. I'll take Hinata to Tsunade for briefing."

"Osu" answered Ino.

The group split into two, Kiyoshi and Hinata went to Tsunade, while Kakashi's group went in the opposite direction to the forest dragging Naruto along.

"Gah! Let me go baka!!!" screamed Naruto flailing all four of his limbs around, while the other three were trying to keep him still.

Kakashi remembered something he picked up whiles back from a group of ninja teens back in the Rice country. "Yeah, I think that should get the job done. Good thing we have Sakura here." she looked at him surprised

Once they were done tying Naruto down to a tree, Kakashi pulled the two girls of to the side. "What are we going to do?" asked Sakura

"I know a technique. Teens in Rice country use it to get rid of stalkers, what it does is it basically makes the person hate the one who cast it, makes the stalkers leave them alone or attack. Good for making the opponent give their position away, and gets the job done at any range. The one bad thing about it is a sonar traveling jutsu, and means that it affects everyone within earshot, so Ino and I are going to have to get to a safe distance before you use it, Sakura.

"How's this going to help? From what I understand, it's a temporary effect."

"Well, once you consider the psychology of the human brain, or even Naruto's brain; a crush is vulnerable to something like this. I'll tell you an example; when somebody starts dating their crush, the crush eventually wears off and leaves both people extremely annoyed with eachother, sometimes even hating eachother. What you're going to do is basically make him hate you without having to date you."

"Thank god" replied Sakura

"Now, this technique makes Naruto hate you, but since it's a crush he has on you, the effect should be permanent. He'll probably hate you for the rest of his life. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" asked Kakashi to see how she would react to his disclaimer.

"His proposals to dates are definitely something I could live without, so I'll do it," agreed Sakura.

Kakashi started teaching the technique to Sakura while Ino observed the whole ordeal wishing that she could be of more help. After Sakura and Kakashi were both sure that she got the technique down, Ino and Kakashi started running off while Sakura came over to the struggling Naruto.

"Untie me Sakura!" yelled Naruto at the top of his voice. When in reply she started forming seals. He froze "Oh my god, what are you doing?"

When Sakura was sure that Kakashi and Ino at a safe distance, she formed the final seal and a high-pitched tone was released all over.

Naruto's face shriveled up and he closed his eyes shut "Aah! What the hell are you doing?!" The high-pitched tone ended. He opened his eyes and seemed to be rather annoyed. "God you're ugly Sakura."

Not hearing him add 'chan' to the end of her name was music to Sakura's ears. Without untying him, she ran off to tell Kakashi and Ino of the good news, once she got there she scremed "It worked!" with a bigger smile than Ino thought Sakura was capable of.

"Sure it would've worked, Naruto's brain isn't that hard to figure out... unlike Kiyoshi." added Ino in disappointment. "What is wrong with that guy? I can't understand him one bit, his personality is always changing."

Sakura and Kakashi were staring at Ino "I'm not sure I want to interfere with that business..." Kakashi thought to himself. "Ok... I'm not into that, so let's go see how Naruto's doing." he said walking into Naruto's direction.

They all walked over to Naruto who was staring at them, "Well are you going to untie me now?" he asked

Kakashi thought about it for a moment, and answered "Yeah, why not?"

When they untied him he fell over on all fours and threw up. "Urghh, that was unpleasant..."

Sakura started picking him up "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I just threw up thinking that I actually liked someone as ugly as you."

She punched the back of his head making him fly into the puddle of his own filth. Watching the vomit covered Naruto get up, Sakura replied, "I'm not the ugly one here."

"I guess it worked," said Kakashi out loud catching everyone's attention.

Ino and Sakura didn't seem to care about what Kakashi said so the three of them started walking back to the Village with Naruto following them. Naruto on the other hand, started asking sets of questions "What do you mean that worked? What worked? What happened? Who's ugly?" and kept asking his countless questions for the whole trip back without a single hint of anyone explaining anything to him.

Kiyoshi and Hinata were walking to Tsunade's in silence. Hinata was thinking about what had happened earlier, and what this mission was going to be about.

"Kiyoshi-kun" she asked softly "Why aren't Kakashi and Naruto coming for the briefing?"

"The four back there have business to take care of." explained Kiyoshi

Hinata started to get worried about the though of Naruto and Sakura spending time together "What do you mean, what kind of business?"

"It's better if you didn't know."

Now she was getting really worried, Naruto and Sakura were doing something that she wasn't supposed to know. "Is it something bad? Is it something to do with me?"

Kiyoshi looked over at her, she was really worried and he understood why. "Don't worry, Naruto won't get Sakura. As a matter of fact, what they're doing is going to benefit you." Hinata was now in a mix of fear and confusion "Don't worry about it, think about the task at hand." Kiyoshi remembered something, something he wasn't used having to remember. "Stay here, I'll be right back." said the blond as he ran into a store nearby.

"Tsunade still makes newcomers get her chocolate?" Hinata though smiling and forgetting the fact that Sakura and Naruto were together.

Kiyoshi came out of the store, putting a box of chocolates into a compartment inside his long-coat. "Alright, let's go."

They kept walking until they reached Tsunade's building; they walked up the stairs, through hallways and were eventually at her door. When Kiyoshi was about to knock a voice came from the inside "Come in."

Kiyoshi and Hinata walking in without having to knock. "Ts-Tsunade-sama, how did you know we were coming?" asked Hinata.

"I saw you coming up to the building from my window" explained Tsunade staring at the two teens. "Where are Kakashi and Naruto?"

Kiyoshi quickly came up to her and whispered "They, Sakura and Ino are busy taking care of Naruto's Sakura-craze." then slightly turned his head to see if Hinata had somehow heard what he just said. Hinata's worried expression was still there, so he assumed she didn't hear anything, and turned back to Tsunade.

Tsunade put the pieces together and was surprised to see Kiyoshi already working on getting Hinata and Naruto together, and so shortly after arrival. "Amazing,■ she thought to herself "He's very organized." Then corrected her shocked face back into one of seriousness. "Very well, you'll have to brief Naruto later, and Kakashi will come to me on his own." said the Hokage out loud, for Hinata to hear.

Hinata was starting to wonder what Kiyoshi had said to Tsunade to let something like half the team's absence slide by. She decided to forget that and get down to business. "So Tsunade-sama, what's our mission?" Kiyoshi went back to join Hinata's side, and stood there quietly.

"Very well, since you wish to get out of here so badly, we'll get down to business." She paused to see if either of the teens would contradict her, but they stood there quietly. "You're getting an A-class recovery mission in the wave country."

Kiyoshi started looking uneasy. "Um... Tsunade sama?" said the blond, gaining the woman's attention "Wave country... Will this include swimming?"

She looked at him and smiled "No" Kiyoshi sighed in relief "No swimming, but you're going to be required to walk on water during this mission, and probably diving."

Kiyoshi started sweating and pulling on his collar, "Is it hot in here or what? I think we need some fresh air." he speed-walked over to the window, opened it, hung himself out and started breathing heavily.

"Kiyoshi-kun are you alright?" asked Hinata.

"Depends... How long are the trips to the wave country from here?"

"About three or four days"

Kiyoshi lost conscience and nearly fell out the window. Tsunade had to use a considerable portion of her strength to pull him back in. "What the hell's wrong with him and why is he so heavy?"

Hinata squeaked and turned away as Tsunade started undressing Kiyoshi "What are you doing?!" she screamed at Tsunade.

"He's too heavy for a normal human being, I want to find out why." Tsunade answered explaining her actions.

Kiyoshi started coming to, and felt himself being undressed. "Gah! What on earth are you doing?!" he started crawling away from Tsunade buckling his pants and fixing his shirt.

"Will you please explain why you're so heavy? If not for my strength, you would've fallen out the window and ended up in a hospital."

Kiyoshi remembered the moment when he passed out, and then remembered the reason for passing out "Uhh" thud

"Oh for the love of... never mind" Tsunade gave up and turned to Hinata to continue explaining the mission. Once she was done, she added "Tell the details to Naruto and Kiyoshi once you get the chance. In the meanwhile, would you like some tea until Kiyoshi wakes up?"

"Yes please," said Hinata with a smile.

Tsunade walked out on the unconscious Kiyoshi and the tempered Hinata, to get the tea. Hinata sat down and started wondering why Kiyoshi felt so uneasy about the Wave country, and what is so bad about the time it takes to get there? A few minutes later, Tsunade entered the room with a pot of tea and remembered something, "Oh damn, I forgot to bring something sweet to chew on."

Hinata remembered that Kiyoshi had bought chocolates for his visit to Tsunade's. "Hang on" she said getting up and running over to Kiyoshi. She tried to lift a part of his coat up and managed to do it with some difficulty. Tsunade sat down observing the scene. Hinata started searching through the coat and found a hidden inner pocket with the chocolates and something she had never seen before. "Tsunade-sama, come here, I think I found something."

Tsunade rushed over to Hinata and took a plate of high-density alloy out of the rather large pocket. "Wow, very nice... I wonder how strong he truly is..." then looked at his thin body and said, "How can this be?"

Hinata looked at Tsunade and asked, "What is it?"

Tsunade picked up Kiyoshi and estimated that he was about 1100 pounds. "Oh my god..." put him down and turned to Hinata "Hinata, how much do you think he weighs?"

"I'm guessing very light, about 100, maybe 115 pounds maximum... why?"

"He weighs 1100 pounds," she explained as Hinata's eyes widened. "That means that his 100 pound body is able to hold ten times its weight..." she said in awe

"Can't be..."

"Actually about 9.5 times." corrected Kiyoshi getting up and giving the chocolates to Tsunade. "I got about 25 kilos more muscle than I look." got up walking over to the table, opening it taking a bottle of Sake out and drinking the whole thing.

"What are you doing?!" screamed Tsunade running up to him, snatching the bottle to find out that there's no longer anything left in it. She closes her eyes, turns red and a vain pops on her forehead.

Taking the opportunity of not being watched, Kiyoshi reaches into the desk and drinks another bottle of sake. "Ahh, that should get the job done." Hands the second empty bottle of sake to Tsunade and sits down.

Tsunade gets even more pissed off "You drank two bottles of my sake!!!"

"I would've drank only one if it was piping hot..." explained Kiyoshi

"That's not my problem! My problem is that you're underage!!!" she screamed at the fifteen-year-old kid.

"Oh that... I forgot that I'm fifteen."

"Grr, fine, but don't you drink again!"

Hinata was watching at the scene, not believing her eyes. "Kiyoshi-kun, why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Drink"

"Don't mind if I do," he said reaching for another bottle inside Tsunade's table.

To Tsunade's surprise, Hinata exclaimed "Oh no you don't!" and attempted to hit a pressure point on Kiyoshi's arm. Her attempt failed so she tried again, and failed again. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Poking me won't help," explained Kiyoshi

"I'm hitting the pressure points, but my hits are ineffective," explained Hinata to Tsunade.

Tsunade took the matter into her own hands and crushed Kiyoshi's hand with her own. "What do you mean it's not working?"

"She means that her attacks aren't getting through," replied the crushed teen "I have a slightly different muscle structure than anyone else, and therefore all the original pressure points are useless. Furthermore, my muscles are so tightly formed, that nothing can get past them, not even a thin chakra needle."

"Should you be telling us this?" asked Tsunade

Kiyoshi thought about it for a second and answered, "No... not really. Are you going to eat that chocolate?"

"Yes, but since you are the one who brought it, you can have some." Tsunade offered him some forgetting the fact that he drank 2 bottles of her sake.

Hinata decided to also drop it, so she sat down and drank tea with them and ate chocolate. They forgot all about their troubles and worries, and discussed amusing events from their lives.


	10. Chapter 10 Missions, Books and Pirates

Chapter 10 

Kakashi, Sakura, Ino and Naruto were walking back to Village. The whiskered boy was still extremely confused as to why he was dragged into the forest, tied up, made listen to horrible sounds, and why he was constantly chasing the pink-haired girl for 5 years.

"Is this one of those things that I'm supposed to drop?" asked Naruto

"Yes!" the rest of the group answered at once.

"Fine, don't tell me, I don't want to know." everybody kept on walking in silence for a few minutes "Oh come on! Please tell me!!!"

Sakura turned around and put a pinecone in his mouth "Naruto, shut up"

"Ow ow ow" whined Naruto in a muffled voice, trying to take the pinecone out.

Kakashi looked at the annoyed girls, and then at the occupied Naruto. He leaned over to the girls and whispered "I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough of him for today, I'm going to leave now." he turned around and told Naruto "Naruto, go find Hinata and Kiyoshi, they'll brief you on the mission." with that he took off, jumping from house to house until he was no longer in sight.

"Uhh" Naruto was about to say something to the girls, but they also disappeared. "Aw what the hell!" he yelled in disappointment. He was confused, had horrible pain in his mouth from the pinecone, and he was now walking alone. "This day can't get any worse..." he said and got cut off by a sudden rainfall. "Frig... now I'm soaking wet as well."

Back at Tsunade's office, Hinata and Kiyoshi were till talking about random stuff with Tsunade.

"So what happened then?" asked Kiyoshi

"He tested by forehead for temperature..." answered Hinata, and they all laughed.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, what's Naruto's count for mistaking your blush for a fever?" asked Tsunade

"507 and counting." Answered Hinata

Everyone usually found Naruto's clueless being, somewhat amusing, but this was just plain sad "You're kidding me right?" asked Kiyoshi

"No, I actually have them counted on my calendar," answered Hinata, already discussing her affection with Kiyoshi without hesitation.

Everyone looked down, and Kiyoshi was starting to doubt that it was possible to get Naruto understand Hinata's feelings. "I wonder if they managed to do it." he thought to himself, as all of a sudden Ino knocked on the window from the outside.

Tsunade slid the window open for Ino to enter, and it started raining really hard as soon as she did. Tsunade commented on Ino's entrance said, "You know... that's why I have a door."

I'm sorry Tsunade-sama, but I got great news... It worked!!!" Ino exclaimed

Grins grew on Kiyoshi and Tsunade's faces. "Are you sure?" asked Kiyoshi

Ino brought the two of them closer and whispered "He threw up at how ugly he found Sakura to be."

This shocked Tsunade and Kiyoshi; never did they think that Kakashi would have such great of a success. "Amazing" said Tsunade in awe.

"Unfortunately Kakashi, Sakura and I ditched him because he was being too annoying." Ino signaled Hinata to come over to join the conversation "You two should go and find Naruto, he probably went home because of the rain, but you need to brief him today never the less." said Ino to the two teens, Tsunade's attention was faint, she was staring out the window.

"There's no need to do that," said Tsunade looking at the gray picture outside her window. "He's coming here." Pointing down at the street below.

Everyone went to the window, and stared at the pissed off and soaked idiot heading towards the building. "Wow... you'd think he'd go home and fall asleep." said Ino looking at the scene below "He probably came to complain about what we did to him."

"Oh crap, Ino you better run or hide before he comes in here," said Kiyoshi

"You're right, I'm off," said Ino opening the window as soon as Naruto entered the building.

"Here, take this so you won't catch a cold," said Kiyoshi taking a hooded cloak out of one of his inner pockets and hanging it to Ino.

"Thanks, I'll give it back tomorrow before you leave." said Ino putting the cloak on and jumping out the window. Although the scenery was lifeless and gray all around, Ino felt bliss in the rain as she was running down the wall to the street below.

Naruto came barging into Tsunade's office "Baa-chan!!!" Tsunade and the other two were sitting comfortably as if they were for half an hour without interruption. "Kakashi and the two ugly girls tied me up in the forest and were running some kind of weird experiment on me!"

"Calm down Naruto." said Tsunade, which angered him even more. "Did you lose a limb... or your virginity?"

Naruto looked uncomfortable at the mention of that word in this situation. "No... but..."

"Then calm down, dry yourself off, and have some tea." Kiyoshi cut him off tossing him a towel that he got out of nowhere.

"Fine" Naruto dried himself off and sat down in between Hinata and Kiyoshi, and poured himself a cup of tea. When he started drinking it, he felt harmony from the aromatic taste, the warm and dry atmosphere, and the girl beside him "What the hell?" he thought to himself looking at the girl. "I've never felt this calm before..."

"N-N-Naruto-kun, you're staring..." said quietly looking at him from the corner of her eye, and blushing.

"Uhh, sorry..." Naruto shook his thoughts off and continue drinking his tea.

Everyone sat in silence, but not an awkward one. The silence was calm, without any tension or uneasy feelings. "I could get used to this..." Tsunade thought to herself examining the silence of the calm Naruto.

"So what about the mission?" asked Naruto.

"Crap, I thought I'd not have to repeat the details again," complained Tsunade. "Alright, here's the deal, you're going to be sent on a retrieval mission to the wave country tomorrow. A ship was sunk somewhere in the south-western waters of the land, with many items of value, along with a chest full of fine-cut emeralds."

"You said that this is an A-Ranked mission," said Kiyoshi looking at her inquisitively.

"Here's the twist on your mission; apparently there's a big demand on this chest, and consequentially the ship was sunk because of it, sunk by pirates."

"Pirates!!!" screamed Naruto standing up and nearly splashing his tea over everyone.

"Chill, Naruto" said Kiyoshi putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder and bringing him down.

"Yes, Pirates, seems bad enough as it is, but among those pirates are two former Mist Shinobi. Those guys aren't pushovers, so you'll have to be careful."

"I'm Mr. Careful!" exclaimed Naruto jumping up again and this time spilling his tea all over the table.

"Good job, Mr. Careful" said Kiyoshi in a teasing voice "now sit down, we aren't going anywhere until the rain stops, and we still don't know the complete details of the mission."

"Stop pulling me down" complained Naruto as he was once again pulled down by the shoulder.

"Actually, I don't know the whereabouts of the sunken ship, so you'll have to ask around if anyone's seen anything. As a matter of fact, this is more of a mission of resourcefulness, which Kiyoshi has. Hinata has her locating abilities, and Naruto has his..." Naruto leaned over to hear what she was going to say about him. Tsunade quickly came up with an excuse for the kid's presence, one that would not piss him off and splash his tea all over the office. "Naruto has numbers, so in case there's any conflict with the pirates you have less of a chance to be outnumbered."

Naruto seemed pleased by her excuse for including him, so he leaned back and said "Hell yes."

Kiyoshi thought about it and asked "May we have access to your library for today?"

"Sure thing, knock yourself out." answered Tsunade.

"We're going to read?!" Naruto jumped up.

"Naruto where did all the calmness go? The calmness you had a few minutes before you asked about the mission?" asked Tsunade

"I... don't... know..." answered the kid, scared by the thoughts coming into his head from the question.

"OK... we're going, may we have a note so that the guards will let us through?" asked Kiyoshi

Tsunade was already writing one. When she handed it to him she said "Kiyoshi, I hope you can do this with such lack of resources."

"I hope so too, we'll see." he answered

With that said, the group of three walked out and headed towards the Hokage's private library, Tsunade screamed after them "Kiyoshi!" he turned around "Don't you touch the jutsu section, only the history and information sections are you allowed to see!"

"Alright!" Kiyoshi screamed back to Tsunade through the long hallway turning back to see where he's going.

"Kiyoshi-kun, where are we going to start?" asked Hinata looking at the vast and barely organized shelves of scrolls and books.

"We'll start with the geography of the wave country." answered Kiyoshi "You look over the island formations we have on record, look for anything interesting like caves or any possibilities of concealments for ships or bases." He turned to Naruto and said "Naruto, you're going to help Hinata, and don't touch anything without her approval." Hinata blushed as Naruto pouted "I'll be in that section over there in case you need me for anything."

"Hey why do you get to slack off while we do all the work?" complained Naruto.

"I'm not going to be slacking off, and unless you want to try and figure out the complexity of seabeds, I suggest that you Shut up." replied Kiyoshi, and it truly did shut Naruto up. Then a thought came through Kiyoshi's head and he asked "Say Naruto, can your clones act as information retrievals?"

Naruto tried to understand what he meant and remembered that when a clone's destroyed, the memories come back to the rest of them. "Yeah, do you think it'll be of help to us?"

"Well of course it will, Hinata and I will need you to draw some of the maps out. For that we'll need as many hands as possible." Naruto crossed his fingers over his chest and was about to summon one hundred clones when Kiyoshi cut him off "Not yet! Summon only one at a time, too many clones will become too hectic and unorganized." Naruto nodded and put his hands down.

Hinata was reading something while the two were talking and found something interesting "Kiyoshi, I found an Island surrounded by reefs, It looks like with enough navigation, it's possible to dock ships on the lake formed within the Island."

"That's going to be our first destination, tell me the coordinates."

"50.72 degrees east and 12.51 degrees south." answered Hinata

"Good, I'll try to find the waters for that place, Naruto, make a clone and draw that map out," commanded Kiyoshi

The group got to work on the mission and was very productive in finding the terrains of the wave country. They managed to find more and more possibilities of good battlefields and ship-routes where the ship might have sunk, and found even more possibilities of hidden bases and pirate ships. Kiyoshi couldn't shake the thought of sinking to the bottom of the waters due to his mass, and the fact that he was unstable without it.

Kakashi came to Tsunade's office to tell her the news about Naruto, and for the mission briefing.

"Hey Kakashi" said Tsunade breaking away from her documents as Kakashi entered her office. He was about to speak, but she cut him off "Good job you did on Naruto, I couldn't have done better myself."

Kakashi was slightly surprised by the fact that Tsunade knew what was happening before he told her "Sure you could've, you are the famous medic-nin"

"You're right, I could've. But I don't have the time because of all these documents." she drew his attention to the countless papers scattered all over the desk.

"Uhh, can't help you there, but I need to know what the mission is, or I'll look like a slacker if they know something that I don't." said Kakashi in fear of losing face.

"Too late." said Tsunade giving the cool ninja a mocking eye "They're in the library researching information on the mission."

Kakashi's eyes widened "They're what?"

"Researching"

"Naruto too?"

"Yes, Kiyoshi dragged him into it as well."

"Wow"

"I know, Naruto never does anything productive other than training." Tsunade explained how unreal this is.

"Not only that, I've never seen any Shinobi of such low rank researching a mission."

"There's a first time for everything, I've only seen ANBU research their missions. But they're trained to do so, this Kiyoshi is really something else." said Tsunade slightly wandering off. Then she shook her thoughts off and said "Kakashi, here's the mission..."

Tsunade told Kakashi all the given information on the mission. After those three minutes were up, she told him about what happened on Hinata and Kiyoshi's briefing. Kakashi thought about it for a moment and said, "I'm going to go see how they're doing", walked out of the office and headed towards the library.

Kiyoshi was looking over a really complex rock bed, trying to find the best places to enter an island, when Kakashi entered. "Hey Kakashi-sama" said Kiyoshi not turning to look at the intruder. Hinata, Naruto and his clones were a little further inside the library and didn't notice anyone enter.

"I see you made Naruto work, good job, it may not look like it but you've made quite an accomplishment." said Kakashi and observed Kiyoshi's lack of care. His expression changed "Kiyoshi, what's up? I heard you passed out," asked Kakashi

"Oh that, I have problem with water." answered Kiyoshi

"Haha, please don't tell me that you don't know how to swim." Kakashi joked

"No, I can swim just fine, I learned how to at age 4." said Kiyoshi. "It's about my weights," explained Kiyoshi

Kakashi understood what's been bothering Kiyoshi "You're afraid of sinking?"

"I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of meaningless death." Kiyoshi corrected Kakashi's logic "If I take my weights off, I'm unstable. If I keep em on, I'll sink to the bottom."

"I see, so you feel that you're useless?" concluded Kakashi "What're you going to do? Back out?"

"Hell no, I don't back out, I've face life and death situations since I was born, so this should be nothing. But still..."

"I know what you mean." Kakashi thought about it for a second, "Did you talk to Gai and Lee?"

"Yeah, Gai gave me advice on training, but I can't complete it in the four day trip, not enough time." explained Kiyoshi

"Well let's see how much you can learn to control, I don't think we're in that much of a hurry, we can take the long road there."

Kiyoshi looked up at Kakashi and smiled "Thanks."

"I'll take over from here, you can go train for now. But tell me what you've learned so far so that I don't repeat your steps." said Kakashi relieving Kiyoshi from his duty.

"Sure thing, Hinata is searching for islands. I'm researching the seabeds around the areas where the ship might've sunk, as well as the islands that Hinata finds. And Naruto is drawing the maps for us so that we can take them with us." said Kiyoshi and then updated Kakashi on the multiple areas that are already studied and recorded. "I'm off to train, I'll be back in two hours."

"It's ok, take as much time as you can." said Kakashi picking up a book and sitting down.

"I can't I'm only allowed to practice an hour a day, and that hour I'll be splitting up into 15 minute sessions." explained Kiyoshi

In an instant, Kakashi understood what Kiyoshi was worried about, having four days to train is very little, but having a total of 5 hours of training is even worse. "I see... go gain control of yourself, we'll be waiting for you." said Kakashi

Kiyoshi went off to train, leaving Kakashi and the two teens to study. He walked outside to find that the rain had stopped and the clouds were disintegrating. Rays of light shone through, lighting up the colorful streets, and making the puddles shine and reflect the lit up houses.


	11. Chapter 11 Incomplete Transformation

Chapter 11 

Kiyoshi was on his way to the forest to train his control, he was thinking about how he was going to make this work. When he got there, he started unloading his weights and piling them up under a tree, which he then marked with a carved in 'S'. He looked up at the branches and trees, looked to the sides with the complex terrain of tightly packed trees and old fallen dead ones lying all over the place.

"Osu, let's start this thing." He made a slight movement with his legs and jumped up 20 meters into the air "Whoa, control Kiyoshi, control yourself..." He tried to land on a fat tree branch. He bent his legs to soften his impact in order to avoid breaking the branch. It didn't work, he fell in too hard and accidentally kneed through the 40-centimeter branch, tumbling down towards the ground. He unsheathed his kodachi and tried to insert it into the trunk of the tree near him. But accidentally stabbed through the trunk and hung there. "Come one Kiyoshi... control." he focused and managed to push himself off the tree without breaking it, and landing safely on the ground. "Yes" he was happy about his small accomplishment, but still had to continue with his control training.

Back in the library Hinata had trouble finding any more islands that were possible to hide on, Kakashi was now running out of material to research, and the small Naruto army was asleep on a pile of books and drawings.

"Kakashi-sama?" asked Hinata surprised to see Kakashi sitting there instead of Kiyoshi.

"Kiyoshi needs training, so I'm filling in for him." Kakashi answered the upcoming question.

"I see" said Hinata and looked at Naruto to see how he was doing. She giggled when she saw him asleep in a strange pose on top of a pile of clones. She turned back to Kakashi and said "Kakashi-sama, I'm not having any more luck finding anything."

"Me neither, I think it's safe to say that we got most of the possibilities down. I think it's time to leave it alone," he said with a yawn. Then he looked at Naruto and said, "I'll wake Naruto, and that might take a while. Why don't you start cleaning up, we'll join you in a second" he said picking Naruto up by the feet, and holding him upside down.

"Osu" said Hinata starting to pick up all of their data and putting it neatly into organized piles.

"Oi Naruto! Wake up!" Kakashi was screaming in Naruto's ear, only making him snore louder. "Hmm... Hinata, I'll be right back, I got a plan to wake Naruto up," he said walking out of the library still holding Naruto up by the legs. He went to the washroom, and dunked Naruto headfirst into a toilet and flushed it.

Naruto woke up shivering from the cold water "Ugh... what's happening?"

"Oh good, since you're awake, you can help us clean up the library." said Kakashi innocently looking down at Naruto, still holding him up by the legs over the toilet.

"Since I'm awake? Don't make it sound like I woke up by myself! You woke me up!!!" Naruto started flailing his arms in all directions, creating a storm of fists.

Kakashi let go of Naruto, making him fall to the floor face first, and walked out of the washroom heading towards the library "catch up once you've dried off!" he yelled back to Naruto.

Naruto got up groaning, taking his forehead protector off and squeezing the water out of it. Then walked over to the blow-drier, turned it off, and sat down under. "What's his problem?" Naruto thought to himself "Why is everyone so careless about me? Why is everyone so secretive around me?" Naruto finished drying his hair off, put his forehead protector back on and started walking back to the library.

In the meanwhile Kiyoshi was still trying to land softly on branches, but failing at every given attempt.

"Damn, I only have 4 minutes left in this session... Better make them count," he decided to give up on branches for now, and work on jumping off trees without breaking them down.

Tsunade was taking a break in the office. She was standing up and looking outside through her window, when she noticed a tree fall down in the forest some distance away from the village, and raising a cloud of dust. She looked shocked for a second "Are we under attack?" She took a spying glass out of her desk and zoomed in on the source of the broken tree. "Kiyoshi... you gave me a scare there for a second." She picked up her jacket and decided to see what he was up to.

Kiyoshi was lying on the ground and breathing heavily, not from being tired, but from nearly being impaled by 50 tons of wood that he broke down moments ago. "I got to be careful" he thought to himself, then got up and continued his training. He jumped at a tree, softening his impact as much as he could, coming so close to the tree, that the bark nearly scratched his face, he lessened himself and started falling off the tree to put some distance in between them. When there was only a little bit distance for him to push himself off, he did so and still made a big indent on the tree's side. He flew at a ridiculous speed towards a different tree and braced himself for impact. He flew though the 1.5-meter trunk, breaking it in half, and covering himself in splinters. He pummeled down towards the ground. As he was falling, he looked around and no tree was close enough to insert his Kodachi into, so he reached inside his coat, pulled a chain out, attached one end of it to the handle of his right-hand kodachi, and flung it to the nearest tree. The Kodachi pierced the tree, he used the chain to swing around the tree and eventually land softly on the ground below. He yanked on the chain and the Kodachi came flying down at a dangerous speed. He caught it, untied the chain, and sheathed it. "Break time..." he thought to himself walking over to his stash and putting his weights back on. "Ahh, that's better," he thought to himself feeling the control back in his body.

"Next time, train somewhere further away from the Village, This is the 'Leaf' village, not deadwood village." said Tsunade smirking.

"Tsunade-sama, what are you doing here?" asked Kiyoshi turning in her direction

Tsunade looked around at the messed up scenery and then back at Kiyoshi "I thought that there was a war happening here... but it's just you." she smiled at him "Tell me, why are you destroying my forest?" asked Tsunade

Kiyoshi looked around and realized that he was in fact destroying everything in sight. "I'm sorry, I'm training my control, I had no intent of becoming a lumberjack."

"Control?" Tsunade's smile disappeared "Are you trying to say that you weren't practicing your attacks?"

"Yes, I'm practicing to be able to use my true strength without destroying everything I touch." explained Kiyoshi. Then he looked around and said "Seems like I have a long way to go."

Tsunade looked around and couldn't believe that the destruction around her was unintentional "Wow, I'd hate to see what happens when you go on the offensive... or even defensive. It's amazing to see someone have such strength without mixing chakra in their attacks."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, whenever I attack, I mix a precise amount of chakra into my fists, and it makes them penetrate almost anything. But seeing you have that amount of strength without the use of chakra is extraordinary," explained Tsunade. "Also the fact that you look like you're 100 pounds."

"I see, but I already told you why. My metabolism and muscle structure is different from any other human being..." explained Kiyoshi.

He was about to continue, but Tsunade cut him off "I know how the metabolism works, and I don't really feel like getting into those kinds of thoughts right now." there was a silence "I'm hungry, do you want to eat?"

"Sure."

Kakashi, Hinata and Naruto were cleaning up after their research. They were done organizing, labeling and putting their information away, and were putting the various books and scrolls back on the shelves.

Naruto sneezed and complained about Kakashi giving him a cold, Hinata turned around and said "N-Naruto kun, please sit down..." Naruto didn't complain, and sat down on a stool nearby. "Close your eyes please..." he closed his eyes and Hinata walked around him. She paired the index and ring fingers and started massaging starting from his temples, then the sides of his nose in between the eyes, then on the sides of his nostrils, then under his jaw on the sides of his neck, then the sides of the back of his neck, then under the earlobes. She repeated this series of massages several times, until Naruto stopped her.

He opened his eyes realizing something. His nose was no longer stuffy, and there was no sign of a sore throat, cough or anything that resembled a cold. "Hinata... how did you..."

"It was something my mother did to me whenever I caught a cold, it doesn't cure it completely, but it helps stop the symptoms."

Kakashi was looking at the two from the side, slightly giggling. "Wow, so clueless..." he thought to himself observing Naruto's sorry self.

Naruto and Hinata turned to see the giggling Kakashi, and realized what it was that he found amusing. Hinata was standing behind the sitting Naruto with her hands over his shoulders, and he was sitting leaning against her, very relaxed and holding on to her hands. Hinata became very red, Naruto quickly let go of her soft hands, stood up and walked away whistling.

Kiyoshi and Tsunade were sitting in a bar eating. Kiyoshi was let in because he was under supervision from the Hokage.

"Don't you try anything funny." said Tsunade looking at Kiyoshi suspiciously, remembering how he drank two bottles of sake in an instant earlier.

"Don't worry, if I wanted to get drunk I would've come here by myself disguised as you," answered Kiyoshi

This scared Tsunade "If you're caught doing something like that, you're going to be kicked out of the village for three months." she warned him.

"What I meant by that is that I don't make habit of drinking," said Kiyoshi trying to comfort Tsunade.

"You shouldn't be drinking at all, you shouldn't even know what it's like to be drunk." she carried on trying to discipline him

"Yeah... but what can I do? I already know."

"Why you... don't you speak ba..." She was interrupted by Kiyoshi who all of a sudden froze, and lost consciousness "Kiyoshi!" She struggled to hold him up from falling to the floor, which he would probably break through on impact. "Kiyoshi wake up!" she started slapping him, which had no effect of waking him up. She dropped a random amount of money on the table, picked him up over her shoulder and carried him off to the hospital. On the way there, she met Kakashi, Naruto and Hinata.

The three of them rushed over to Tsunade after seeing her carrying the unconscious Kiyoshi. "What happened?" asked Kakashi

"I don't know, he just lost consciousness on me when we were eating." answered Tsunade as they were all running to the hospital.

"Eating?!" Kakashi exclaimed, "How much did he eat?!"

"He didn't eat anything, we only got our orders served when he passed out." answered Tsunade

Kakashi was stumped "Then why would he pass out?"

"I said I don't know!" screamed Tsunade slightly panting

This was one of those rare moments that Naruto has ever seen Tsunade slightly tired. "How much does this jackass weight?" Naruto thought to himself.

When they got to the hospital, Tsunade put him on a bed, which started creaking from so much weight. "Hinata, can you see anything?" asked Tsunade.

Hinata nodded and said "Byakugan!" veins popped up on the sides of her eyes and she tried to observe what's happening to Kiyoshi. "Oh my god..."

"What is it?" asked Kakashi

"I've never seen anything like this... All his chakra is being sucked into his eyes." Everyone was in shock. "Eventually his organism won't be able to keep up with the consumption, and he'll die."

Tsunade knew what she had to do; it was time to use the mixture that she's been saving up. She took a syringe out of her inner coat pocket, attached the needle and prepared to inject it into Kiyoshi. "I hope this works..."

"What is that?" asked Kakashi looking at the syringe of glowing blue stuff.

"This is a mixture that I've been working on the past week. I found it in a rare plant deep in the second training field. It has the property of absorbing chakra, so I took a patch, soaked it in this flower extract and put it on my shoulder every night for a whole week. It's chakra storing capabilities are amazing but has poor efficiency. I can't tell exactly how much is stored in it right now, but I hope it's enough to wake him up."

Everyone crossed their fingers as the syringe slowly pushed the glowing blue extract into Kiyoshi's neck.

"This is a mixture that I've been working on the past week. I found it in a rare plant deep in the second training field. It has the property of absorbing chakra, so I took a patch, soaked it in this flower extract and put it on my shoulder every night for a whole week. It's chakra storing capabilities are amazing but has poor efficiency. I can't tell exactly how much is stored in it right now, but I hope it's enough to wake him up."

Everyone crossed their fingers as the syringe slowly pushed the glowing blue extract into Kiyoshi's neck.


	12. Chapter 12 Kiyoshi's Happy Death

Chapter 12 

Kiyoshi woke up with a scream. It smelled like Vic's nose drops, his back was sore, and now there were four people standing over him. His mornings were getting worse.

"Kiyoshi, why do you always scream when you wake up?" asked Tsunade

"Because there's always something happening to me when I wake up..." said Kiyoshi sliding his legs down to the floor and sitting up.

"How do you feel?" asked Kakashi

"Like shit. I'm stiff all over, what the hell happened?"

"You lost consciousness," explained Tsunade

Kakashi turned to Hinata who still had her Byakugan on. "Any change?"

"No, his chakra got slightly boosted, but it's still getting drained into the eyes," answered Hinata

"Damn."

"What's happening to me?" asked Kiyoshi

Tsunade replied "I can't be too sure, but I heard of something like this happen to blood-limit owners." everyone looked at her "If this is what I think it is, it's brought on by the transformation of your blood-limit."

"Transformation?" asked Kiyoshi

"Are you right handed or left? And have you experienced any pain in your eyes recently?"

Kiyoshi tried to remember the pain "Yes, the pain happened only twice. Once when I was fighting thugs to protect a girl, and the other was when I fought Naruto. I'm right-handed, why?"

"The transformations usually start from whichever side you have more control over, in your case it's the right. Can you turn your blood-limit on?" asked Tsunade curious to see what will happen.

"Tsunade-sama, he's low on chakra, if he pumps too much chakra into his blood limit, he won't wake up next time." said Hinata.

Kiyoshi looked at Hinata and back at Tsunade "Ok... so what about the pain?"

Tsunade carried on "As I was saying, transformations need a flow of chakra. Although it's small, it has to be constant throughout the transformation."

"I see where you're going with this," said Kiyoshi putting all this information together "I cancelled my blood-limit, but the transformation is still pulling chakra from me."

"Precisely"

"So how do I complete the transformation?"

"I'm not sure, because nothing like this has ever happened on my records. Usually blood-limit transformations are painless and don't take too long to complete, but your case is different." she thought about it "I can pump some adrenaline into you, make your chakra regeneration higher, it should give you that small boost that you need to activate your blood-limit. But whether or not the transformation will continue, I'm not sure."

"I see." said Kiyoshi knowing what this meant. "If the transformation doesn't resume, I won't wake up again."

"Do you want to do this?"

"I don't have much of a choice, bring that adrenaline," he said as Tsunade rushed over to the cabinet.

A smile crept over Naruto's face, he had just come up with an interesting idea, or so he thought. "Why couldn't someone just pump some of their own chakra into him?" asked the blond hoping to be recognized as a genius.

Tsunade turned to him, "It seems like a logical idea." Naruto's smile got wiped off when she said the word "However"; he knew he was about to get pushed down again. Tsunade carried on, "However, it would mean that the chakra would go into his eyes, and would either cause instability, making him go blind, or he would be dependant for that person's chakra for the rest of his life, no matter how much of his own he would have."

Naruto looked down in disappointment, but then asked "How's that different from the flower extract?"

"I'll explain. The flower extracts the chakra's pure form, removing any hint of DNA from the original owner." Naruto became confused. "In simpler terms, it purifies the chakra."

Kiyoshi was getting impatient, the more Naruto asked, the more Tsunade got distracted, and the less chakra he had left in him. "Naruto, no offence, but how about you ask questions after the transformation starts and I black out."

Naruto shut himself up, and Tsunade prepared a syringe of adrenaline, "It's best you keep your eyes closed, if the transformation resumes, it'll go by faster if your eyes are closed."

"What'll happen to me once I start this?"

"You'll pass out due to lack of chakra, and the transformation should happen on its own." She looked at him "But..." everyone turned to her "If it doesn't resume these are your last moments awake." she holds up the syringe and pushes the air out "assuming the worst... say your last words"

Without a change of expression he turned to Hinata and signaled her to come closer. He whispered to her, "I'll back you up whenever you feel weak coming up to Naruto." and hugged her. Then he turned to Tsunade "Tsunade-sama, thank you for accepting me for these last few days, and thank you for everything you've done for me. If I don't make it, you can have my coat and its contents." turned to Kakashi "Thank you for that fight back there, even though it was just a test, it was the hardest battle I have ever fought." turned to Naruto "Take care of Hinata, and get those pirates. Oh and tell Ino I said 'hi'." he said his goodbyes with a smile, and then lay down on the bed.

Tsunade injected the adrenaline. "Good luck Kiyoshi," said the Hokage in a slightly weakened voice.

"Gambatte Gudosai everyone." said Kiyoshi to everyone and turned his blood-limit on, and blacked out.

Kakashi turned to Hinata and asked, "Is it working?"

"I don't know, the chakra's still flowing into his eyes, but that could mean anything," answered Hinata in a weepy voice. Five minutes passed and everyone waited for something to happen. After the fifth minute passed, a really hard shock ran over Hinata's face "He's gone..."

Tears formed in everyone's eyes. The loss of a good newcomer, a fighter whose last words Tsunade didn't understand. Tsunade reached into his inner coat pocket and took out a box of chocolates. She smiled through the incoming tears, "You shouldn't have Kiyoshi."

Kakashi, being the only one trying to keep a straight face, sighed in attempted relief "Oi... He's making this very difficult."

Then Hinata saw a slight movement of chakra in his stomach, then another one on his right arm. "Wait..." everyone turned to Hinata. Another movement of chakra in his leg, then the chest. "Something's happening..." The small movements of chakra kept appearing and moving towards his chest. Then all of a sudden, a huge storm of small blue dots came from his eyes and flowed down to his heart. "This doesn't make sense, but it's amazing..." the small dots all formed a big really bright ball of Chakra concealing his heart. Then it exploded as his circulatory system restarted. "He's alive!"

Everyone watched at him as he arched his back over the bed, and then breaking the bed once he came back down. Kiyoshi woke up from the impact with the floor. "Ugh, what the hell?" he coughed blood out. Everyone looked at him; His eyes had three radioactive-green glowing lines slowly rotating around the center, leaving long fading trails of green behind them. This time, both of his eyes had spikes coming from the pupils as well.

"God damn it Kiyoshi! And here we were all worried about you!!!" screamed Naruto pointing his index finger at Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi didn't reply, he looked from one person to the next; everyone had a trail of fading chakra extending towards him. "What's happening?"

"You're alive Kiyoshi, that's what's happening." answered Kakashi

"I know, and that's not what I mean." said Kiyoshi in awe from seeing all the blue trails all over the place. "Why is everyone covered in chakra?"

"Nobody's covered in chakra Kiyoshi" replied Kakashi, "unless... I think you might have just unlocked another stage in your blood limit from the transformation."

"And that means..." started Naruto for Kakashi to continue

"A new ability. His primary one allows him to see 1.25 seconds into the future, this one allows him to do something else." explained Kakashi "Now all he has to do is figure out what it does."

Kiyoshi fell asleep before he could hear everything that Kakashi said. "Let's take him home, he's been through a lot today" Said Tsunade picking him up. "But just to be sure... Hinata, can you check again?"

Hinata looked into Kiyoshi's closed eyes "They're no longer sucking chakra, but they're glowing for some reason."

Tsunade opened one of Kiyoshi's eyes, to find that it's turned back to its original light-blue form. "I think it's safe, we'll figure everything out in due time." she looked at the clock before she left, it said 6:37. "What a messed up day..."

On the way back they came by Ino. She was a bit surprised to see Kiyoshi in his state, so they explained what happened on the way to Kiyoshi's house. "Oh my god... Is he fine now?" asked Ino as they were putting Kiyoshi on his floor, and sliding a pillow under his head.

"He'll be fine, he just needs rest," said Tsunade "I think it's best if nobody bothers him today, he'll sleep through the night." covering Kiyoshi with a blanket

Ino looked down at him and said "I'll stay with him just in case."

Everyone looked at her and then at eachother. "You do know, that he'll toss you out in the morning, right?" asked Kakashi.

"I know, and I don't really care," replied Ino.

"Suit yourself, but we'll be going now" said Tsunade and pushed everyone out the door leaving Ino sitting alone beside the sleeping Kiyoshi.

"What are you thinking Tsunade?" asked Kakashi "Ino and Kiyoshi together is just plain wrong, they don't suit one another."

"Maybe, but did you notice the change in her?" asked Tsunade "She's no longer that girl that goes for the looks."

Kakashi thought about it, and decided to forget the whole ordeal. "Fine, I don't care, but I only wanted what's best for Kiyoshi," said Kakashi turning around and walking away. After passing a few meters reached inside his pouch and took his book out.

"What's his deal?" asked Naruto.

"You should pay more attention to yourself before telling others to, Naruto." replied Tsunade and started walking back to her office.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're too clueless for your own good. Don't try to look cool in front of..." Tsunade stopped, realizing that he no longer had a crush on Sakura "Everybody. But try to analyze your surroundings for your own sake."

Naruto stopped and stared at Tsunade's back for a few seconds "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"That's the other thing, you ask everyone without trying to figure it out yourself. Go home and try to understand what I mean"

Tsunade walked around a corner and out of Naruto's sight, leaving him alone and confused once again. "To hell with this" Naruto said out loud and started back home.

Ino was sitting next to and looking at Kiyoshi. "What do I have to do to get you?" thought Ino "I'm a pretty girl, I'm smart what else do you want?" she asked out loud. Kiyoshi started mumbling in his sleep. Ino quickly leaned over to listen more closely hoping that he was answering her question in his sleep, but couldn't make out a single word of what he was saying. Kiyoshi started sweating and twitching, pain ran through his face. Ino got scared and tried to wake him from his nightmare. "Kiyoshi wake up, wake up." she picked his head up, and it bobbed over to the side lifelessly. Ino's face became shocked, she knew he was alive because he was breathing, but the way he was relaxed was too unreal, too much like a corpse, and she couldn't help but fear for his life. Kiyoshi stopped twitching and his face turned back to normal. A tear formed in Ino's eye "Don't scare me like that again" she whispered. Ino sat beside him, holding his hand for a little while and decided to get some tea.

Sakura lay on her bed and thought to herself. "Poor Ino... so misguided." turned over to her side. "That Kiyoshi guy can't make her happy, this'll end sadly."

Tsunade was in her office going through the documents and eating chocolate. She took a bite out of a piece of chocolate and stopped writing to look at the box of chocolates. It had a note, "To Tsunade-sama" written underneath the box in the corner.

"He must've been preparing this for our last meeting. He bought chocolate every single time, always saving this and keeping it close to him." she thought about it a little more and concluded "He was prepared for that moment back there" she thought back when he was saying his goodbyes.

At the end of the day everyone fell asleep going over the events that passed, mostly thinking over the feeling of peace when Kiyoshi was speaking his last words. It was a mix of a sad goodbye and happiness at the same time. Something that is rare in death... happiness.


	13. Note to the Readers

A special hey to the few people who read my fic, I'm grateful that you do, and I hope to satisfy your hunger. 

In case some of you are wondering if I actually have a plot laid out (due to the random and seemingly unplanned events), I do have a plan. The first ten or so chapters were only the intro (yes, pretty long, I know), but the plot I have ready should keep most of you entertained.

Furthermore, I am currently working on chapter 24. You may wonder why I havent posted the rest of the current chapters, and the answer is simple; to keep you good folks guessing. I decided to post a chapter a day, that way you don't have to wait for a whole week till the next update, but at the same time, it won't be posted all at once.

Now, as for the next point, I still havent decided what I should do regarding Ino. If anyone cares, give me advice, that way your influence will be in my fun-fun fanfic. if it actually comes to the point where many people care (unlikely), we shall have a poll.

Lastly, I have a karate examination tomorrow (being May 27, 2007), and I hope you wish me luck rather than try to voodoo me or something... seriously, please no voodoo.

One last big, warm 'thank you' to all those who clicked on this link, I'm grateful that even a few people read my fic; Kita (crystalfeathers), Amantes, NoNameNeeded, JTomoyasu, HinaNaruFAN987, Demon of Konoha, icegoddess52, and theshadowone2. You guys inspire me


	14. Chapter 13 Departure

Chapter 13 

Kiyoshi woke up, this time without a scream. He was lying on the floor, and the place didn't smell like Vic's nose drops, but Ino was once again sleeping on his chest.

Kiyoshi just lay there thinking, "This'll never end will it?" He ran through the series of events that he went through in the previous day, and looked at the clock. The clock said 6:30 "I still have one and a half hours before I leave for my mission, I better pack up." He looked down at the sleeping Ino, slightly lifted her, got up, picked her up and put her on the couch covering her with a blanket. He then went to make something to eat and drink, once he was finished with his breakfast, he started packing up for the mission. Half an hour later he was ready, he wrote a note to Ino, put his coat on, took his bag, hung it over his shoulder, and walked out the front door.

Hinata was already waiting there when he came to Konoha's front gate. She saw him and waved her hand in a greeting manner. "Kiyoshi-kun, how're you feeling?"

"Like nothing happened, and let's make it so, I don't like to reminisce my near-death experiences." replied Kiyoshi with a smile

"Osu... why are you here so early?"

Kiyoshi looked at the clock in the guard booth which said '7:17' "I'm not sure, but I don't feel like sleeping. Why are you here so early?"

"I always wake up this early, it gives me time to train."

"Good idea, I'll be a mile away from the village training in case you need me, tell the others to catch up once they come." said Kiyoshi starting to walk away from the village.

"I-I... I'll train too I guess..." she said to the walking away Kiyoshi.

"I'm sorry Hinata, this is something I have to train by myself, but I hope we can train as a group on this mission." said Kiyoshi turning his head to look at Hinata from the corner of his eye, smiling.

Hinata nodded "Good luck Kiyoshi"

Kiyoshi ran off with his coat slightly waving around behind him. Once he got to what seemed to be a good place, he went off the trail and slightly into the forest to avoid destroying the scenery around the road. He started unloading his weights, and putting them in a pile. "I wonder what love feels like" he though to himself picturing Hinata's passion for Naruto. Once he was done unloading, he marked his stash with an 'S' and started training.

Hinata was going through a kata of concentrated attacks into the chakra-holes of imaginary opponents, when she felt a slight tremor in the ground. "I wonder what's happening..." she got down on all fours, put her ear to the ground and started listening. "It almost sounds like trees being torn from their roots." she got up and continued her kata training.

At 8:15 (already late), Kakashi appeared at Naruto's door reading his book. He knocked on the door, waited a moment, repeated the process three times, and then burst through the door to wake Naruto up. "Oi, Naruto, you're late..." said Kakashi to the startled Naruto.

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and looked up at the copy ninja, "Oh it's you... Don't you mean we're late?"

"Nah, I'll say I was busy waking you up for half an hour."

"Gah! I'll tell everyone that you lie!"

"And who'll believe you?" said Kakashi tossing Naruto an empty bag to start packing up, and turned around leaning against the wall reading his book.

Kiyoshi was still nowhere near controlling his strength, but he was going in the right direction. He could now jump from tree to tree three times before losing his control and creating a storm of splinters. "Damn, I won't be able to make it in time." he thought to himself "15 minutes are probably up, I better put my weights back on." He started back to his stash. Once he was done putting his weights back on, he went back to the village entrance "They should've been here already. Oh well, I guess I'll train with Hinata. Time is a tricky thing... nothing can be truly predicted." he went back to the village thinking all over the place.

"Where's Kakashi and Naruto?" thought the girl. Hinata was at the gate, taking a break from training "They should've been here half an hour ago." then she spotted Kiyoshi running back "Kiyoshi-kun!" she waved to him

"Hinata, are you done training? I have some time from my solo training, do you want to train together?" he said running up to her.

"Uhh... osu, let's train." said Hinata

"How about a light spar? I need some one on one training." with that they took stances

Kiyoshi took up a cat stance, where Hinata took her classic kamae stance. With that they advance to eachother and started their attacks. Hinata evaded Kiyoshi's attacks with slick movement, where Kiyoshi was using a mix of dodging and blocking from the side, and going around the back. The spar took two minutes until it went to the next level. Now Kiyoshi and Hinata were using each other's movements against themselves flipping over eachother and grabbing each attack to make the other fighter lose balance.

Kakashi and Naruto were walking to the gate when they saw Hinata and Kiyoshi sparring; Naruto had never seen anything like this. They were like two cyclones in water intertwining eachother and getting combined into one big mass of smooth movement. "Wow... Hi...!" he was cut off by Kakashi shutting him up.

"Don't interrupt them, they're in a state where they can read each other's movements, another mind comes in to disrupt them, and they'll lose that connection. Look at how harmoniously they move together, that's something that can't be taught, but only understood."

Naruto looked at Kakashi and then back at the fight. He knew what Kakashi meant by just looking at them "It's beautiful..."

Once the spar stopped, Kiyoshi bowed to Hinata and said "Thank you, that was a nice refresh."

Hinata giggled, she hadn't had that kind of experience before. Whenever she sparred with her father, he wouldn't go easy on her and would bring her down in ten seconds demanding that she stood up and fought properly. This time was like fighting an equal, someone who couldn't bring her down, and someone that she couldn't either. It was a very nice feeling of balance with no overpowering. She bowed back, "You're welcome."

Kakashi seeing that the spar was over started walking towards them, leaving Naruto standing still, stunned. "Sorry I'm late, Naruto took a long time to get ready, he made me late."

Naruto came running up, pointing and screaming "Liar!"

"Ok, are we ready to go?" asked Kiyoshi

"I don't see why not, everyone's packed. Hinata do you have the research?" asked Kakashi with his hands in his pockets

"Yes" and she checked if in fact she did. "Here they are" she opened her bag revealing the documents to everyone.

"Let's go!" screamed Naruto running down the road.

"Oi Naruto, what's your hurry?" Kakashi started walking alongside Hinata and Kiyoshi

"Pirates!"

"Chill, even once we get there, it'll take time to actually find them."

Naruto stopped, turned around and rejoined his new team.

Ino woke up half an hour later. She was surprised to wake up on a couch in a different place than her room, and then remembered why she was there. She quickly turned to look where Kiyoshi was sleeping, only to find that he was long gone. Sadness crept over her face until she saw a note on the table beside her. "I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye properly, but it can't be helped, nothing can be predicted. P.S. keep the cloak" She read it and smiled. Then she quickly got up and ran out the front door heading towards the front gate of Konoha in hope of catching him for a last word before he left. When she got there, he was no longer in sight.

She looked at the note again "At least he said goodbye" she whispered.

The group was walking down the road, and had already passed a small distance. Kakashi quickly turned his head to the right spotting something out of place. "Hold on, I got to check something out." he jumped into the forest leaving everyone waiting. Half a minute passed when they heard him calling out "Come here! You've got to see this!"

Everyone followed his voice into the forest, when they came by a scene that was familiar to Kiyoshi. Everyone was shocked but Kiyoshi, they were looking at about fifty trees, each one either broken down or broken in half, and not the small saplings of trees, these were full grown trees with meter in diameter trunks. "What could've done this?" asked Hinata.

"It was me," answered Kiyoshi with everyone turning to look at him in shock.

"Stop seeking attention Kiyoshi" said Naruto

"This was my training earlier this morning," said Kiyoshi turning to Hinata.

"So this is how little control you have over yourself..." said Kakashi looking around at the destruction.

Kiyoshi looked off to the side, "Yes, do you see why I fear going on water?"

"I can see the problem..." said Kakashi thinking, and then said, "I think you need more time, we won't rush this mission."

"Thank you." said Kiyoshi and then looked at the terrified Hinata.

Hinata was staring at Kiyoshi "Little control? But I sparred you earlier, if you had lack of control, I would've been ripped to shreds."

"It's my weights, I have good control when I have them on. But when I take them off, I gain extraordinary strength and lose all control of it." explained Kiyoshi.

"How did this happen? Is it genetic?"

"No, It happened because of my foolish youth's search for strength. I wanted to become strong like no other, so I kept adding more and more weights not thinking about controlling my excess strength. My body kept getting accustomed to the weight at a greater speed than any other human body could. When I realized my lack of control, I was already accustomed 950 pounds. If I took at a bit at a time, learning to control each weight added, I would probably weigh more than a ton. But even that comes with risks of its own, I break any weak chairs by sitting on them, so I can't imagine how I could possibly live wearing a ton of weight."

Kakashi started back to the road "I though we had something to worry about, like an attack on Konoha or something."

Kiyoshi suddenly got an uneasy feeling about what Kakashi just said, but shook it off. They all walked back to the road and resumed their journey to the wave country.


	15. Chapter 14 Lost Souls and Sad Memories

Chapter 14 

The team was slowly walking to their destination, taking a lot of time off the road for extra training. Kiyoshi was now able to jump of one tree to the next fifteen times in a row before losing control and breaking through one of them.

"I don't understand why you want control." scoffed Naruto at Kiyoshi's training "You have strength, just batter through the opponent" he was thinking back to Lee when he was fighting Gaara in the exam.

Kiyoshi stopped, landed and looked around for a good example to show Naruto. "Naruto, strength is good and all, but without the control it's nothing. For example, on a scale of one to ten, right now my strength is an eight, where as control is one." he directed their attention to Hinata. "Hinata has strength of, I'd say about four, but her control is rated 8." Naruto was now listening intensely. "The way your ratings work is they multiply eachother. When I multiply eight and one, all I get is an eight. But when multiplying Hinata's ratings, you get thirty two."

"That's nice and all, but you can still beat her." Naruto pointed out

"Are you sure?" asked Kiyoshi

Naruto looked stumped and then answered "Positive"

"Ok, let's test your theory. Hinata, how about a spar?" asked Kiyoshi

"Umm..." Hinata wasn't sure if she wanted to, If Kiyoshi got a single hit on her, she wouldn't be able to get up. But couldn't turn the fight down in front of Naruto "Sure"

Naruto was surprised that Hinata accepted such a challenge "Hinata, don't do it, he's much stronger than you."

"Don't underestimate her situation Naruto" Kakashi pointed at Hinata's serious battle stance

Kiyoshi ran at Hinata at an unrealistic speed, and all she did was moved out of the way, crouched and stuck her leg out tripping Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi flew through the air and a number of mature, fat trees. "Ugh..." he lay fifty meters away from the rest of the team. He then got up and walked back to rejoin them. "See Naruto? Control's important too, brute strength is nothing if you can't land a single hit of it on the opponent."

Naruto was shocked by what just happened, but received a better understanding of the word 'control'. "I see..."

The four of them took a break from training and had lunch. Hinata realized that she knew nothing about Kiyoshi "Kiyoshi-kun..." He turned to her cheering his food "Where were you born?"

Kiyoshi swallowed his food and answered, "I don't know"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't remember anything about my parents of the place I was born."

Hinata was starting feel sorry for asking, but since she did, she had to finish this off. "So you have amnesia?" Kiyoshi nodded "Why didn't you ask Tsunade to restore your memory?"

"He did" answered Kakashi, "And he nearly died because of it."

Hinata looked back and forth between Kiyoshi and Kakashi, "Nearly died? What happened?"

"I went into shock, once I was revived, all I remembered from my origin of birth was my name."

Hinata looked puzzled "You nearly died in our village two times in the three and a half days that you've been there?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything. I've had plenty of near-death experiences before, these were nothing to sweat over." answered Kiyoshi and took a bite out of his lunch.

"How can you talk so calmly about your death? Don't you care if you live or die?" asked Naruto

"We all die eventually Naruto. If I were to die, life would go on, and not much would be changed."

"You're sick, you know that?" everybody looked at Naruto "Life is something to be cherished, not tossed out so easily."

"Oh I cherish life." Naruto stopped throwing insults "I just cherish others more than my own." he looked up at the team smiling "I would give my life in exchange for any of yours any day."

Naruto was speechless; he couldn't understand what Kiyoshi was thinking. "You don't cherish your own life?"

"I wandered around, beating down and killing muggers and scum ever since I was nine years old." everybody felt uneasy about this "Only when they were harming someone, most of the time the victims were kids or elderly people. I would never hurt a fly... unless it had a dagger and was charging at an unaware human being"

"That doesn't explain anything," replied Naruto

"I'm getting there. Anyways, I found my purpose in life, and it suited my moral code perfectly. I'm a bodyguard, not an assassin."

Naruto looked at Kakashi whose face expression didn't change one bit about what Kiyoshi just said. "Are you too much of a coward to start a fight?" screamed Naruto in Kiyoshi's face

"Sit down Naruto and ask yourself this; Have you ever killed a human being?" asked Kiyoshi

Naruto got lost in deep thought; he had never killed a single person good or bad in his life. "No"

Kiyoshi stopped eating, and looked at Naruto "I had to kill seventy three so far, and the number grows exponentially every single time." Naruto became shocked as Kiyoshi leaned back against the tree and took another bite "They say that the horrible feeling of taking somebody's life eventually fades away. Not in my case it doesn't. And to constantly protect people, knowing that I might have to kill at any moment..." he made a deep sigh, "Isn't cowardice. It's harder to follow through than anything else. Death is the coward's way out, and never have I made a single attempt to kill myself."

Kakashi frowned as he listened to Kiyoshi, "You still have that feeling? How do you live with yourself? How do you keep killing if you feel no spiritual reward for doing good?"

"I'll answer with the following; I learned two things about time, nothing can be predicted, and that it never waits for you. I kill, and I feel like shit, but the innocent life goes on." Everyone fell silent.

After lunch, the four of them resumed their journey; Kiyoshi was walking in front, with the three teammates following him in the back. "I don't get this guy," said Naruto.

"I know exactly what you mean. He's got a really messed up life ever since his birth, plus having to kill people since age 9 doesn't have a very nice effect on a person's sanity. But just looking at him, you can tell that he's at peace. I wonder how he can still look in the mirror if the horrible feeling of killing someone still haunts him."

Hinata decided to join in to the conversation "He seems very unreal... He always smiles, or has an empty expression, but I've never seen him sad or frowning."

The quiet girl speaking startled Naruto, "Maybe it's because he can't frown" Naruto started laughing at his lame joke.

"I think you may be right." Hinata and Naruto turned to Kakashi "I think the just the thought of being sad, would tear him apart, so he doesn't think about himself, maybe even forgot how to think about himself."

Kiyoshi was examining the beautiful scenery, and how it contrasted with the blue sky and fluffy clouds. He turned around to look at his team, to find them deep in conversation. "Damn... I wish that conversation never took place." He decided to join in, to stop them from talking about him. "So how's life going behind Kiyoshi's back?" he said smiling.

"Not bad..." answered Kakashi "Could be better if you were with us though."

"Well here I am, what do you want to talk about?"

"What's your favorite food?" asked Naruto

"Well... I'm fond of ramen or noodle soup, but my main attraction is pie."

"What kind?"

"If it's dessert, I prefer cherry pie, but if it's main course, I like beef or potato pie." answered Kiyoshi

"I like..."

Kiyoshi cut him off, "Ramen, right?" Naruto stopped and looked at him "Not too hard to conclude with your mad ramen-eating sprees."

"Oh I see..." this unintelligent conversation of 'what do you like' carried on for a few hours until Kakashi slapped both of them in the back of their heads, after which they stopped. A couple of hours later, they came by a woman dying by a tree, she was wearing a long white military uniform and a bamboo hat. She had various cuts and gashes all over her body, and was bleeding uncontrollably.

"Oh shit!" said Kiyoshi running up to her "Help me tie up her wounds."

Everyone followed him, and started ripping loose clothes to tie them around unconscious woman's wounds. "Who could've done this?" asked Hinata

"A battle happened here," answered Kiyoshi activating his blood-limit. "Get her to safety, we're in trouble" he said unsheathing his Kodachi.

In an instant 20 shurikens flew out of the trees down the road. The team picked the woman up and started carrying her out of the fight. Kiyoshi flew in the way of the shurikens protecting the team; deflected 14 of them, the rest hit him instead making him fly back.

"Kiyoshi!" screamed Hinata

"Go fix her up, I'm fine." replied Kiyoshi getting up. He took off his overweight coat, revealing a vest, and dropped the coat to the ground, raising a big cloud of dust to act as a smoke screen.

"Where did that little shit go?" asked one of the attackers in the tree, trying his best to see through all the dust.

Kiyoshi flew out of the dust cloud, spinning with his kodachis and creating a deadly drill, heading towards the enemy, "Don't let your guard down!" he flew through the trees ripping leaves and branches to shreds.

Hinata had a worried look on her face. Kakashi comforted her "Kiyoshi will be fine, he has those weights acting as armor."

"That's not what worries me. He took his coat off, he has a lot of his weights in it, now his upper-body has poor control."

"You're right, but it's a good mix of control of his stance, and strength in this arms," suggested Kakashi

"I hope you're right." said Naruto

Kakashi was somewhat let down by this "Since when does he not consider my words wise?" he thought to himself

Kiyoshi was fighting his way through the concealed enemies in hope that they'll retreat. "Back off!" screamed the teen, flipping over the sneaking up enemy. Kiyoshi kicked the man off his branch in mid-air, swung off of another branch and landing on top of his victim. The blond jumped back into the trees, followed by a trail of shurikens, which became friendly fire hitting the guy on the ground. "Idiots! Are you trying to kill your teammates?!"

"He was useless! He couldn't defeat a small kid like you!" a reply came from the source of the friendly fire.

"Let's see if you're any better than he is!" screamed Kiyoshi swiftly unraveling a chain from inside his vest. Kiyoshi jumped out into the open attaching the ends of the chain to his Kodachi handles. "Eat this!" he threw the Kodachi at the point where the voice came from, and retracted it after it failed to his flesh and bone.

"Whoa, that was a close one," thought the leader of the military group, after nearly getting his skull penetrated by the kodachi-on-chain combo.

Kiyoshi was now spinning and jumping all over the open space, dodging the shurikens, and killing the attackers with his long-range swordsmanship. Eventually the shooting stopped, he retracted his Kodachis, holding them and awaiting more attacks. "Is that all?" said the kid with spinning green eyes. "Please give up, I don't want any more death!"

"You want all?" said a voice and then paused. "Here's something for you to chew on. Attack formation delta!" screamed the commander.

Fifty soldiers jumped out of the trees, cornering every possible angle of Kiyoshi's escape. They all threw five kunai each, not allowing him to get out of the attack. Kiyoshi panicked as the ball of sharp metal enclosed on him at a raging speed. He saw the attack before it came, but he couldn't get out of the way; there were no openings that he could escape through. He held his Kodachis in a defensive position and blocked all the kunai that were coming for his head. Every other blade entered its sharp point into either his weights or flesh. "Argh!" The pain was unbearable, all he could do was stand there and endure it for however long he had left to live. He couldn't move as all of the military landed on the ground and surrounded him.

The commander landed next to him, leaned over and smiled "Check-mate, kid."

Something blinked in the corner of Kiyoshi's eye, he forced his body to move, with every half of square centimeter of it penetrated by a cold metal. He crouched down covering his head as a storm of arrows pierced every skull around him and swept the owners off their feet. When he looked up, all he could see was death surrounding him. Every last one of his opponents was dead, and now a brigade wearing white uniforms was advancing towards him. He screamed from the pain, fell over, and blacked out.

Kakashi, Naruto and Hinata were done bandaging the wounded woman and started running back to help Kiyoshi. When they got there, the brigade of soldiers greeted them. After a proper introduction, the brigade's commander, Hideaki, told the team what happened "Our scout was heading this way, on her communication device we heard her scream and then the signal disappeared. Then we found these traitors attacking your guy, we couldn't attack them as we were outnumbered and would all be killed. We watched him fight from afar, and he put on quite a show for us, until he got trapped and taken down." Kakashi looked shocked when they revealed Kiyoshi in a critical condition "He must've killed at least forty of these jerks before they got him. But when he got trapped, we got the perfect opportunity to strike them down, he lured them out into the open, and we took them down before they finished him."

The team rushed over to Kiyoshi and took him off one of the soldier's back to try to heal him. "Is there a medic-nin in your brigade?" asked Kakashi.

"Arisu!" yelled the commander as a black-haired girl stepped up "Can you help him?"

Arisu observed Kiyoshi with a stunned expression "He's fine!" she said back to Hideaki "Only his skin's punctured, so he'll feel a lot of pain, but none of his organs were reached, even his muscles are unharmed!"

Hideaki looked at Kiyoshi in astonishment "How can that be? I saw him engulfed by a storm of daggers!"

Kakashi stepped in with a serious face "This kid is slightly different from any other human being, let's just leave it at that."

Hideaki looked at Kakashi and said "Very well, that's a fine warrior you have there, don't get on the wrong side of him." Kakashi nodded "Now... can you help us? We're looking for our scout."

"Yes, we took her to safety. As a matter of fact that's the reason Kiyoshi was fighting your enemies, so that we could keep her safe."

"Can you take me to her?"

"Yes, but bring Arisu with you, your scout is cut up pretty badly. We stopped the bleeding, but she still needs medical help."

"Very well" he turned to his brigade "Arisu, you're coming with me."

"Hai"

"Kenta!"

"Hai?" a young soldier with a bow in his hands came up

"I'm leaving you in charge, secure perimeter and establish camp." said Hideaki leaving with Kakashi and Arisu.

Naruto watched Hinata by the fire, as she was putting her ointment on his wounds. "He'll feel sore in the morning,■ said Hinata knowing that the following morning will be living hell of pain for Kiyoshi.

"That Kiyoshi... never leaving any fun for me." said Naruto

"I don't think he was in it for the fun, I think he lost the fun of fighting a while back." said Hinata staring at Kiyoshi in deep thought. "How can he be ready for death at such a young age?"

"Probably because he's gotten to accustomed to it by now." said Kenta coming up and sitting down on the opposite side of Kiyoshi "After a while of killing, one becomes used to death and it becomes a part of their life."

"But that's what bothers me" said Hinata "Unlike any other warrior, he doesn't get accustomed to the death he inflicts."

"That's strange, sounds like his life is living hell without all these wounds." said Kenta looking over Kiyoshi's cuts.

"And yet he never shows it." concluded Hinata "He's similar to you, Naruto-kun." she looked at the spiky-haired blond.

Naruto looked at her in surprise "How can she know me so well?" he thought to himself. "I don't know what you mean."

Hinata decided to drop the conversation. "I'm Hinata," she said to the young archer.

"I'm Naruto"

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Kenta."

Kakashi and the two soldiers finally got back to the scout who was now awake.

"Makato, how're you doing?" asked Hideaki coming up to the cut up woman.

She looked at him in a funny way until her vision wasn't blurry anymore "Hi Hideaki, I've had better days."

"Arisu, see what you can do." he turned to Kakashi "Thank you for helping my sister." Kakashi's eyes widened "As a fellow soldier I'm grateful, but as a brother, I can't thank you enough."

"She's your sister?"

"Yes." Hideaki looked at Makato and then turned back to face Kakashi "I think we owe you an explanation as to who we are."

"Yes please explain."

"I'm Hideaki, leader of the lost soul army. We're an army-for-hire that travels and accepts anybody that's lost their family or had no family to begin with. This army is basically like a family in its own, and we look after eachother as if we were one big village like Konoha. As a result, sometimes long lost family members get reunited, for example Makato and me."

Kakashi related Kiyoshi to a 'lost soul'. "I got a question"

"Hmm?"

"You pick up a lot of orphans I'm guessing."

"Yes, thankfully there are less of them nowadays." answered Hideaki

"Have you encountered any orphans with blood-limits?"

"Yes, although few, some are spread throughout our vast army. What I'm leading is only one of the seven brigades."

"Wow. Anyways, I'm looking for a blood-limit owner whose eye sort of looks like a radar."

Hideaki recalled something like this, and tried to remember what happened. A shock ran over his face "I remember, about fourteen and a half years ago, we got an order for a job, and my brigade was marching down the road at night, when somebody spotted a fire in the distance. We all rushed to see what had happened, once we got there, we found everybody horribly mutilated." he recalled the horror looking down with a pained expression "They were all ripped to pieces, limbs stuck on spikes, blood smeared all over the place in strange symbols, claw and teeth marks were all over the pieces of bodies." he looked up at Kakashi with tears in his eyes "They were all dead. We searched around for survivors, we found the children were some distance away from the village, and too were ripped to shreds. Not just children, newborns too, still in their cribs." he finished talking, shaking and with a weepy voice.

Kakashi was shocked. "Who would've done something like that?"

"Not who... What!" we found one of the creatures buried under a pile of severed limbs and heads." he recalled the image and flinched "It was horrible, these things had tails like sharpened spines, and the jaws could open so wide that they could swallow a human head in an instant. They had claws stronger than any metals, which they could use as springs to jump great lengths." He was shivering from describing the monster "My whole brigade would have trouble dealing with just one of these things, I can't imagine what kind of force you need to face..." he was cut off by his own terror.

"How many did you estimate?" asked Kakashi afraid of what he was going to hear next

"A hive of them." answered Hideaki staring blankly with tears in his eyes, finally broken down by the conversation.

"Are you sure that those are the people with the blood-limit?"

"Yes, we found several severed heads, they died too quickly for the eye to change back to its original state. The green lines were faded, and they weren't rotating." answered Hideaki wiping his tears and sniffing "Why did you ask about them?"

"Because Kiyoshi was one of them."

"You mean the kid that was fighting the rogue brigade?"

"Yes"

"Oh my god, after what I saw, I didn't think that there would be survivors," He said as more tears started forming.

Once Arisu had healed Makato enough so that she could stand, the four of them returned back to the brigade and Kakashi's team, the two groups spent the rest of the day and night together, discussing old war stories and interesting facts. Everyone tried to avoid talk of Kiyoshi's village, of the horror that could make a full-grown man and commander cry.


	16. Chapter 15 Decieving Appearences

Chapter 15 

Kiyoshi woke up in the morning earlier than the rest. He was surprised to see so many rows of people sleeping, it was like a barracks. He looked around and only saw two people awake, both sitting on opposite sides of the camp.

"Good morning" said Kiyoshi coming up to Kenta and sitting down.

Kenta turned his head to see who was talking "Oh, good morning Kiyoshi"

"I'm guessing my team introduced me." he said smiling "Why are you up so early?" he asked looking at the sky that's not lit by the sun yet.

"I'm keeping a lookout for everyone. A girl named Ayano is watching the other side. I'm Kenta"

"I see, nice to meet you. Can you tell me something about this army?"

"Oh, this isn't the army. This is only one of seven brigades of it." Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow looking around at the vastness of the brigade "The rest of us are spread out all over the world."

"Which country do you belong to?"

"We don't. We're an army-for-hire, and we travel all around, we don't belong anywhere."

"Why not? Haven't you considered dedicating yourselves to someplace?"

"I'll explain a bit about us. We're all made of orphans, widows, and generally people without homes or family. The name of our army is 'The Lost Souls'"

"I see, if I met your people earlier, I would've been traveling with you." said Kiyoshi looking down.

Kenta knew where this conversation was going; Kiyoshi was going to ask if there was anyone like him left alive. "Let's change the conversation, I don't like to talk about my past in the morning. It ruins my day." Kenta cut Kiyoshi off

Kiyoshi gave a disappointed look and said "Very well"

"That was quite a fight you put up with Daiki and his men yesterday." Kenta recalled Kiyoshi's battle

"What are you talking about?"

"The commander that got defeated yesterday" explained Kenta

"Oh yes." Kiyoshi remembered being horribly cut up by hundreds of kunai and quickly looked over his arms.

"What is it?"

"Where are all my cuts? How long have I been asleep?" asked Kiyoshi in confusion

"The fight happened yesterday, you only slept the rest of the day and night."

"How can that be? I should have cuts all over me, or at least scars."

Kenta remembered Kiyoshi's final stand against an enclosing ball of kunai. "Oh that's what you mean." he recalled Kiyoshi's body horribly cut up earlier "It was probably Hinata's ointment. Never thought it would work this well."

"Wow, that's quick." Kiyoshi noticed Kakashi standing in a tree and reading his book "Ok, it was nice to meet you Kenta, I'm going to go pay another friend a visit." said Kiyoshi getting up and walking away.

"See ya."

Kiyoshi walked up to the tree, then jumped up to Kakashi "Kakashi-sama"

"Hm?" Asked Kakashi not breaking his concentration from the book

"How many times have you read that book?"

"67 times." answered Kakashi without trying to recall.

"Isn't it about time to admit that you're addicted?" asked Kiyoshi jokingly

Kakashi looked up at the sky and imagined himself in a circle of fat guys in glasses, confessing the fact that he has a problem "I don't think so."

"At least read something else."

"Nothing can measure up to the quality of this text," explained Kakashi

"Yeah, you'd think so wouldn't you..."

Kakashi looked at Kiyoshi "You wouldn't know, you're fifteen. You couldn't have read the book."

"I'm taught in genjutsu, alone and without adult supervision for over six years. What makes you think that I couldn't trick the storekeeper into selling me a copy?" asked Kiyoshi giggling.

Kakashi never considered this "What else have you done that you weren't supposed to yet?"

"Basically all of the pleasures available on this planet."

"You've even had... you know..." asked Kakashi hoping that Kiyoshi didn't know what he meant

"The stuff in that book?" asked Kiyoshi smiling

Kakashi gave up and asked, "Have you had sex?"

Kiyoshi's expresion didn't change "you're asking me if I'm still a virgin, that's somewhat private isn't it?"

"Oi..." said Kakashi rubbing the back of his head "I don't want to know. But tell me this, what did you mean when you said that you found a better book than this."

"Oh I agree that this is the best book out there. I just thought that maybe after 67 times it'd get boring."

"Look kid, let's pretend we didn't have this conversation, ok? And don't tell Tsunade anything you told me."

"I somehow think that she knows" Kakashi became slightly scared for Kiyoshi's life "I drank two bottles of her sake in front of her."

"You what?"

"Do I really have to repeat myself?"

"Kid, don't mess with her. She may not look like it, but she's stronger than ten of you combined." Kakashi warned Kiyoshi "An tell me why you don't get mad at me for calling you 'kid'"

"Because I wish that I was a kid again, that I didn't leave Akane and the town that raised me, that I wouldn't take the path of killing people."

"Will you stop beating yourself up? If not for you, all of those thugs that you've stopped would still be robbing, killing and raping innocent people." said Kakashi "Also, you should frown, show sadness every now an then, I fear for your sanity."

"You shouldn't be talking, I've never seen you cry at all, Naruto even told me that you refused to when you thought I died!" exclaimed Kiyoshi at Kakashi "Am I really that annoying for you to not be sad about my death?"

"Uhh, I was um..." Kakashi was racing through his mind trying to come up with a believable excuse "I can't cry."

"Haha, don't worry, I know you care." laughed Kiyoshi at how the 'copy ninja' lost his cool for a second there.

"Oh well." said Kakashi smiling at the cheery kid in front of him. Then an image of Kiyoshi becoming like Sasuke came running through his head. "Kiyoshi, I know that I can't set up a boundary that you won't break yourself through..."

Kiyoshi smiled "Don't worry, I don't make a habit of any of the three major sins."

"There is one thing I would like you to promise me however," said Kakashi putting on a serious face

"Are we back at the virginity part again?" joked Kiyoshi

"Please never break your moral code, never seek revenge." said Kakashi imagining what would happen to Kiyoshi's mind if he found out about his clan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kiyoshi, surprised by the sudden seriousness of the conversation.

"Shit happens in this world, and I don't want to see you go down the path of revenge no matter what. Please promise me," demanded Kakashi

"Uhh... alright, I promise I won't go down the path of revenge." said Kiyoshi

"I'll remember your promise, and don't you forget it either."

The two of them kept talking until the sun rose lighting up the sky. When they got back to the team, they found Hinata training, and Naruto sleeping.

"We better keep walking, we can eat on the way." said Kakashi then turned to Kiyoshi, "Take you weights off, we'll carry them for you while you're training."

"Thanks, but what do we do about him?" asked Kiyoshi, pointing at the snoring Naruto.

"Wake him up, I'll say goodbye to Hideaki." said Kakashi, and walked away.

Kiyoshi turned to Hinata "How do I wake him up, and who's Hideaki?"

"Hideaki is the commander of this army," said Hinata still doing her kata, "And to wake Naruto up, the best method is cold water."

"We have no cold water, I'll have to improvise." Kiyoshi pinched Naruto's nose shut, making Naruto snore, he then closed Naruto's mouth shut with his hand. Naruto started to become purple "Wow, you'd think that a person would wake up from something like this," said Kiyoshi removing his hands and wiping Naruto's drool off on the grass. "Hinata, tickle him."

Hinata tripped over herself and lost track of her kata when she heard him say that. "What?"

"Tickle him, it'll wake him up and you'll make him laugh. He'll wake up laughing and seeing your face before anything else. He'll get a permanent imprint of your face as a source of joy," explained Kiyoshi.

"I don't know, are you sure he won't be mad?" asked Hinata.

"Positive."

"Ok, I'll give it a go," said Hinata walking up to Naruto and leaning over.

Naruto burst out laughing when she started tickling him, woke up to find himself hugging her "How the hell did this happen?" he though to himself.

Hinata started blushing "N-N-Naruto-kun!" she screamed in surprise, from the natural reaction of him hugging her.

"Well nobody could've predicted this," said Kiyoshi and started laughing.

Hinata just stood paralyzed, thoughts rushing through her head, "I don't know what to make of this." Was her final thought before Kiyoshi did something

Kiyoshi ran up to them and hugged them both "I want to be in this circle too!" yelled the happy blond.

Kakashi was coming back with Hideaki and saw the three teens hugging eachother with Naruto and Hinata looking extremely confused. "This must be Kiyoshi's doing," he thought to himself

"Is this a bad time?" asked Hideaki

"This is as good of a time as any. They just don't get enough time alone without me." answered Kakashi

"Uhh, whatever." said Hideaki coming up to the pile of three lying on the ground with two of them breathless under Kiyoshi. "Kiyoshi!" he screamed startling the kid and making him jump up leaving the two on the ground gasping for air. "Finally I got a chance to speak to you."

Kiyoshi looked at him strangely "Who are you?" Hideaki was let down by the fact that nobody told Kiyoshi who he was. Kiyoshi looked at Kakashi standing beside the stranger "Oh you must be Hideaki!" exclaimed Kiyoshi "How do you do?" he said grabbing the commander's hand, shaking and crushing it.

"Uh... please let go before you break something." Groaned Hideaki through the pain, handing Kiyoshi his gloves back.

"Oh sorry, I forgot I took these off," said Kiyoshi grinning.

Kakashi stepped in "What are those? I've never seen those gloves on you?"

Hideaki answered before Kiyoshi could, "Those are specially designed high-tension chameleon gloves."

"You know about them?" asked Kiyoshi

"Yes, I have a pair myself, but can't get a strong enough of a grip to actually be able to put them on."

"What are they?" asked Kakashi

"They are gloves that are designed to train one's grip, and at the same time look invisible on the person's hand at all times." explained Kiyoshi

"Are there any other training equipment hidden on your body?" asked Kakashi

"I'll only tell you if you need to know," answered Kiyoshi

Hideaki once again tried to start a conversation with Kiyoshi "Your fighting skills are amazing, I can't believe you killed half of a brigade of highly trained specialists, let alone came out of the fight alive."

"I wouldn't if you hadn't stepped in," said Kiyoshi. "Speaking of which, has anyone seen my coat?"

"Yes, and that's the other thing. How can you wear that thing? It took two of my men to be able to carry that thing back to camp."

"It's not so big of a deal, can you take me to it?" Hideaki nodded and walked Kiyoshi through the encampment of soldiers who were already waking up and making breakfast.

Kiyoshi heard people talking as he was passing by. "It's that freak that took on Daiki's brigade alone" said one guy, another said "He's a monster, no real human could've survived the attack formation delta." the third said "You're right, I think he's a demon pulling a genjutsu, have you felt his coat? That thing's too heavy for a skinny kid like him to carry."

"Hey Hideaki, have you ever seen anyone with these eyes?" he pointed at his eyes turning his blood-limit on.

Hideaki became uneasy "I'm sorry, I have something I have to take care of, your coat is by my tent over there," said the man, pointing at a tent in the middle of the encampment, and then ran off into the opposite direction, thinking "that was a close one."

"What's up with him?" thought Kiyoshi canceling his blood-limit. He walked through the rows of people staring at him and mumbling insults eventually turned around "You're soldiers not little girls!" everybody looked at him directly "If you have something to say to me, say it to my face!" exclaimed smiling. Everyone became silent. "Thought so!" he said turning to walk to the tent, and getting stopped by three buff guys blocking his way. "Are you really a part of the 'lost souls'?"

"We've been here a long time." said one of them "Plus we don't like to be messed with by little punk kids trying to put on an act with silly 'heavy coat' tricks," said another

"And I don't like to be stopped by circus freaks who have a strange resemblance to the three stooges." replied Kiyoshi activating his blood-limit.

"We were ordered to tell you anything about your clan, so we'll skip the chit-chat and kill you right away."

"Kill me? What's with all this hate? And what do you mean by 'your clan'?"

"Enough!" yelled one guy, swinging a punch at Kiyoshi who simply dodged it by going low, and spinning on one foot tripping the three brutes.

"I don't kill unless I have to, don't get in my way again," stated the blonde, stepping over them and resuming his walk to the tent.

The three soldiers got up and screamed, "Freak!"

"God, what's everyone's problem?" thought Kiyoshi putting his coat on and turning around to walk back to his team. When he got back, he found the rest of his team was already packed up and ready to go, "Let's get out of this jackass festival"

"Huh?" asked Naruto

"Some of these soldiers are prejudicial bastards. I just came by three of them trying to kill me," explained Kiyoshi

Hinata was shocked "What? Why?"

"From what I've heard the rest of them say, they think I'm a demon," explained Kiyoshi looking back at them over his shoulder.

Naruto was enraged, and Hinata was appalled "You're right, let's get out of here, we need to travel a little today." said Kakashi leaving, and the rest of the team following his lead.

Hinata and Naruto were walking beside each other with Kiyosh and Kakashi in front of them chatting about something related to the book

"So..." said Naruto, not knowing what to talk about with the shy girl beside him, "Listen, about what happened earlier..."

Hinata cut him off "N-N-Naruto kun, I... I-I" she turned away with a blush redder than physically believed to be possible.

"Uhh... ok..." Naruto forgot what he was going to say due to Hinata's choke up "Why don't you ever talk to me?"

"It's because I've always been to afraid to tell you that I'm deeply in love with you..." Hinata was so deeply lost in her fantasy that she forgot to give an answer Naruto's question.

"Hinata?"

"Oh, s-sorry Naruto-kun. I'm not sure why I haven"t got a chance to properly talk to you." she smiled "I-I-I have always..." she looked down being once again overwhelmed by her uncontrollable blush.

Kiyoshi sensed Hinata's shyness, and looked at Kakashi to see if he did so too. Kakashi turned to Kiyoshi signaling his approval, and Kiyoshi started forming hand-seals.

Hinata and Naruto were walking trying to get past her shyness when all of a sudden they saw Kiyoshi and Kakashi turn around throwing 20 shurikens each. All the shurikens entered Hinata and Naruto's bodies, and all they could do is lay still on the ground, breathless.

Hinata turned to Naruto saying her last words "N-Naruto-kun" he turned to her, and she got scared, but forced to say her last words "I... love... you."

Naruto was shocked, tears started forming in his eyes, and the only thing he wanted was more time to spend with her "Hinata..."

Kakashi and Kiyoshi stepped over the dying couple; Naruto and Hinata braced themselves, but were surprised to see the two figures above them, reaching down for their hands. They looked down at where the shurikens entered their bodies; to find the sharp metal was disappearing, along with the wounds that they inflicted. They looked back at the smiling Kiyoshi and Kakashi offering their hands to help them stand up.


	17. Chapter 16 Confessions and Fluffy Things

Chapter 16 

Hinata was lying on the ground, not reacting to Kiyoshi's helping hand. She was stunned by what just happened, she was tricked into confession by a genjutsu. She slowly turned her head to find Naruto staring at her speechless. Kakashi and Kiyoshi retracted their arms, as neither of the two lovebirds were paying any attention to them.

"What do you think?" whispered Kiyoshi

"Moment of truth." replied Kakashi turning around and walking to sit under the nearest tree to read his book.

Hinata and Naruto lay there on the road staring at eachother for half an hour, until the crouching under the tree Kiyoshi snapped and screamed "Come on!"

Naruto was going over his priorities in his head "What is this? Why haven▓t I noticed her before?"

Hinata was starting to become disappointed "Does what I said mean nothing to you?"

"Hinata..." Naruto still was confused by his feelings "This... Is this how you really feel?"

Hinata blushed and looked away "for five years..." she said in a quiet voice.

Naruto was shocked "Why didn't you say anything before?"

Kiyoshi scoffed "Ok, you two discuss old times, I'm going to go beat my head in." and walked over to Kakashi "They seem hopeless even after the confession."

"What did you expect? You rushed your plan, Naruto doesn't know how to take her confession."

"Shit, this is going to come back to bite me."

Kakashi looked up from the book at the two teens still lying on the ground "You two, I've had enough, we're going."

Naruto and Hinata turned to Kakashi with disappointed expressions "b-b-b-but"

"We already wasted half an hour waiting for you two to get somewhere with your talking. Besides, you can talk while we're walking." said Kiyoshi

Naruto looked at him and said, "I thought you were going to go and beat your head in."

"I changed my mind, now stop stalling and get up." answered Kiyoshi coming over and offering his hands to Hinata and Naruto for them get up. They got up, dusted themselves off and carried on with the journey. "Naruto, make 9 clones, we're going to train as we walk."

"But I thought I'd get a chance to talk to Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto

"Then make 10 clones."

Naruto thought about it and felt stupid in front of Hinata for not realizing such an obvious solution himself. He crossed his fingers and yelled "Kage Bushin no-jutsu!" releasing 10 clones

Kiyoshi placed his eardrum back into place with his pinky and said, "Do you always have to scream?"

"It helps me release energy" answered Naruto making Hinata giggle for no reason.

Kiyoshi started unloading weights, and tossing them to each clone "That's 95 pounds per clone, it should help strengthen you a little." and jumped into the tree accidentally breaking it.

"Uhh, all right..." said Naruto. Then turned to Hinata to continue the never-ending conversation "How come you kept quiet all these years?"

Hinata slightly blushed "I was afraid of what you would say. To tell you the truth, I'm still afraid"

Naruto realized that he hadn't given a direct answer to Hinata's confession. "Hinata... I'm very confused right now, I don't know what to think."

Tears started forming in Hinata's eyes "I'm sorry!" she ran off crying.

"Ah shit." said Kiyoshi lying under a broken tree, lifted the tree and came running towards Kakashi. He accidentally tripped and flew over the copy ninja. "Ugh... Kakashi-sama, do something" he said lying a few meters away, pointing at the runaway girl.

Kakashi lifted his eyes from his book, looked at Kiyoshi, and the situation around him. Kiyoshi was immobile, Naruto was standing there petrified of what he had just done, and Hinata was running away faster than anyone ever thought to be possible. "Alright" he bit his thumb, started forming hand seals and screamed "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" summoning Pakkun.

"Oi Kakashi, how's it going?" he looked at the guy with long hair and a trench coat lying on the ground "Who's that brat?"

"Kiyoshi, Pakkun. Pakkun, Kiyoshi." said Kakashi introducing the two

"Did that dog just talk?" asked Kiyoshi smiling "Sweet..."

"Pakkun, Hinata has a broken heart and is now running away from us. Can you please keep an eye on her?" asked Kakashi

Pakkun looked at Naruto and said "Dumbass..."

Naruto heard it and screamed "WHAT THE HELL?!! DOES EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS?!!"

"Yes... now I'm off, I'll keep you posted." said Pakkun and darted after Hinata.

Kiyoshi tried to get up, but accidentally flipped himself over like a pancake "Gah!" thud raising a small dust cloud "Oh man, everything's hopeless nowadays."

Kakashi came over to Kiyoshi and helped him get up "You'll get it right."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah, if not you'll either die from lack of breath under the sea, or kill yourself running into a pirate's sword."

Kiyoshi's smile faded and Kakashi walked away leaving him disappointed and Naruto and his clones laughing their asses off. "Naruto, you better shut up and think about what you did to Hinata, and what to say to her." said Kiyoshi jumping into a tree, this time not breaking it.

The clones walked after Kakashi and Naruto followed slouching and thinking what he was going to tell Hinata "Oi Naruto, don't think of excuses for rejecting Hinata, think if you want to go out with her." said Kakashi

"Uhh..." said Naruto lifting his index finger about to speak against Kakashi

"Don't argue, you have no real reason to not like her. Just think about it, she's the only girl that's ever confessed to you. And if you keep thinking the way you currently are, she'll probably be the last one too."

Naruto got lost in his mind thinking back to his earlier thoughts "Why haven▓t I ever noticed her?" then became enraged "SAKURA!!!" he accidentally screamed out.

Kakashi turned to him "Have you completely lost it?"

"Sorry, thinking out loud"

"those are some violent thoughts"

Naruto tuned Kakashi out, and Kakashi did the same. "God damn, that Sakura's been clouding my mind for 5 YEARS!" then frowned looking down sadly, thinking, "So much time lost that I could've spent with Hinata..."

"I see you already miss her..." said Kiyoshi appearing beside Naruto "What makes you miss Hinata?"

"She's my team..." Kiyoshi gave Naruto the 'get-real' look "Fine, she's hot..." said Naruto and continued "but not only that..."

"What else?"

"For as long as I've known her, she's always been kind to me, never gave me that ▒Oh my god! It's a monster!' look, and somehow sees the best in me."

"That last part is easy, seeing good in someone is in any person's ability. Do you want to know the reason you miss her?" asked Kiyoshi making Naruto look up at him "It's because of the fact that she loves you."

Naruto was shocked; Kiyoshi hit the nail on the head. "I've never experienced love..." said Naruto looking down with tears forming in his eyes "I have friends, and family. They love me in their own way, but somehow I've always felt that somebody out there loved me." Kiyoshi was nodding "Somebody who could save me no matter what, undying love."

"That's Hinata." Naruto looked at Kiyoshi with tears in his eyes "You should've followed your feeling around the tree and to Hinata who was standing behind it, watching you train."

"What?"

"She's loved you for five years without actually getting many chances to talk to you. Do you know how she did it?" Naruto shook his head sobbing "She watched you train, she watched your dedication to better yourself." Naruto started wiping his tears on his sleeve not being able to answer "Don't hide your tears, it's good to cry, even when it's not out of happiness." Naruto looked up not holding his tears back. "When a strong feeling exists, it reaches from one person to the other. What you felt, the 'love' from that someone out there, was Hinata feeding you. The love that you felt was spiritual, and don't lie, it's the best thing you've ever felt, right?" explained Kiyoshi also starting to get tears in his eyes.

"You're right..." Naruto was now uncontrollably weeping, "What have I done?"

"Go to her, tell her what you feel. I've seen many relationships, but what's happening here could be far more than a relationship. Go, go and pour your heart out to her." said Kiyoshi making Naruto run in the direction that Hinata ran off in.

"Well that was quite something." said Kakashi still reading his book and pointing at the clones.

Kiyoshi looked at the clones all crying on each other▓s shoulders and laughed "Come on you slackers, it's going to be fine." signaling them to pick up pace.

Naruto was running down the road with tears in his eyes, looking around and trying to follow Pakkun's paw-prints at the same time. "How can I be so careless? The most important moment in my life and I fucked it up." Naruto thought to himself wiping the tears that he was the cause of.

Pakkun had caught up to Hinata and instead of following her decided to talk her into stopping. "Oi Hinata!"

"Leave me alone!" screamed the girl, still crying and running away

"Please slow down, it may seem like your life has lost all meaning, but please let me explain something."

"You have no idea what happened! Leave me alone!" screamed Hinata

"Then please slow down and explain it to me"

Hinata tripped and slid across the ground. Then put her palms on her eyes and continued to sob into them "Please leave me alone..."

"Hinata, I'm not going anywhere, so you better explain yourself." She turned to him and hugged him "Hey what am I? A stuffed toy?"

"I love him and I can't stand the fact that he can't return the feelings back to me." Hinata explained choking up some words in her sorrow.

"He's an idiot, but please understand, he has those feelings for you, he is just too confused to understand them." Hinata looked at Pakkun "Give him time, you've watched him for five years, what's a little patience going to cost you?"

"My soul. I can't stand it, I told him my deepest secret and it eats me alive to be rejected."

"He's stubborn, and I know that waiting for him in these moments is torture, but it's rewarding in the end. He'll understand the love that you've shared with him."

Hinata hugged Pakkun "Thank you, I know you're wise and hearing it from you helps. But how can you be so sure?"

"Don't question me kid, if I say this, I'm sure, you better believe it. I've felt the affection coming off of you when you're around him, It'll work out in the end." were Pakkun's last words of encouragement "Now how about we get back to your team?"

Hinata nodded and started standing up and wiping her tears. "Oss, let's head back."

"Hinata!" Naruto had spotted her and was running to the girl.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata was about to break into tears again, facing him again wasn▓t as easy as she had imagined.

Naruto ran up to her and hugged her "Please forgive me Hinata!" he screamed through his tears "I've been an idiot!" and started crying on her shoulder.

Hinata was standing there in shock and a frozen face. "Naruto-kun?" she didn't know where to begin "what happened to you?"

Naruto backed up a bit "I love you Hinata." said Naruto wiping the dust mixed with tears off Hinata▓s face "I love you..."

Hinata stared into his eyes as he did in hers, space closing between them, until their lips met in a soft kiss.

Pakkun was standing a few feet away in complete and utter confusion; he didn't think that Naruto would come around so quickly. He realized that he was staring, so he turned around and headed back to Kakashi and Kiyoshi "What the hell did that Kakashi say to Naruto?" he mumbled to himself.

Kiyoshi was still trying to control his jumping from tree to tree, when Kakashi asked him "What the hell were you talking about back there?"

"None of your business." answered Kiyoshi losing control and tumbling off the tree and onto the ground "Ugh... What I said had meaning, I wasn▓t blindly shooting at stars. And I don't care how many truces their relationship will break, or how many conflicts it will stir, I'm going to help make it work."

"You said you've seen a lot of relationships."

"Many of them were mine with another girl"

"How many?"

Kiyoshi thought about it lying on the ground, turned to Kakashi "67" he answered grinning

"No seriously"

"Fine, it was..." he started counting "thirty nine"

Kakashi looked down at the kid "You?" Kiyoshi nodded "thirty nine? Kiyoshi nodded again "I hate you."

"Fine, but just for the record, they didn't mean anything and didn't get me anywhere." said Kiyoshi

"So you're still a virgin?" asked Kakashi still walking past Kiyoshi

"Come on, just think about it, how can I have sex when I have no control over my body? I'd kill the poor girl"

Kakashi thought about it and started laughing, "You're right... but that means that you haven't had all the pleasures that this earth can provide."

"Yeah, I lied." verified Kiyoshi attempting to stand up.

Pakkun was now in sight "Hey Pakkun! Where's Hinata?"

"Making out with Naruto..." he said slightly looking back "Kakashi, what did you say to that kid? That was the first time I've seen him think clearly." Kakashi said nothing in reply, but only pointed his thumb at Kiyoshi who was struggling to get up. "You're kidding me right?"

"That kid talked sense into Naruto... seems impossible, but it's very much true." verified Kakashi

Pakkun looked at Kiyoshi and back at Kakashi "I've seen enough for today, I'm getting out of here. Have a good one Kakashi." Kakashi waved his hand and Pakkun disappeared.

Kiyoshi barely got up holding his balance and jumped into the trees again. Kakashi was looking at the kid without boundaries or control and realized that before Kiyoshi came along, nothing was getting anywhere, and nobody realized how good life could be.

Author's note: Hey to everyone who's reading this. This story's going pretty well (in my opinion), I've also got a pretty good Idea as to where I want to take it, and how I'm going to do that. The previous two chapters (including this one), I've been correcting for spelling mistakes, If there are still several left, please excuse me, because I'm using notepad to write this. Correcting my work will take up time and will definately slow my writing down, but don't worry, I have another nine chapters ready to be posted, so for now I'll follow through with my "Daily Updates" promise. Thank you for reading, and hope to hear criticism, opinions, and/or ideas from you.


	18. Chapter 17 The Great Naruto Bridge

Chapter 17 

The team took the rest of the week to get to wave country; in the given time Kiyoshi was able to control his movements almost flawlessly, but with the complete concentration of one of his minds. Naruto and Hinata were trying to get past her shyness and get into a deeper relationship. Kakashi read his book five more times.

In the outskirts, the new couple was still reminiscing old times. "I can't believe I did that..." said the blonde with his palm covering his eyes in embarrassment.

Hinata looked down shyly tucking her hands together "You did it 509 times." whispered the girl

Naruto looked up at her "You're kidding me right?"

"That's exactly what Kiyoshi asked, and I actually have them counted on my calendar at home." Hinata's expression changed for the worse before her next question came out "N-N-Naruto-kun..." the pair of sky colored eyes looked up at her worried face "Why do you like Sakura?"

The spazmatic kid burst out laughing, which followed by him choking on his own saliva. Hinata slapped him on the back to help him out, eventually Naruto got his breath back and replied "I feel sick just thinking about her, I can't even answer your question, because of two points. One, it's not true. Two, I can't explain why I did, mainly because I can't relate to myself to the Naruto that existed a few days ago."

"What do you mean?"

Fox-kid looked up at the clouds thinking about the possible causes for his change "I don't know, maybe it has something to do with Kiyoshi..." he looked at the sorry excuse of a ninja "Ever since he came, everything's been changing."

Kiyoshi spotted a bridge in the distance "Something familiar about this place..." ran through the mind over and over again "Something eerie..."

"Kid, have you been here before?" asked Kakashi noticing the uneasy face on Kiyoshi.

"Never mind me, keep reading that book"

"Suit yourself"

With each step closer to the bridge, unlike Kiyoshi's, Naruto's head was being filled with pleasant memories of team seven's adventures and sorrow ones of Zabuza and Haku. It's been a while since the last time that he's visited the Wave country. Naruto was anxious to see what Inari grew up into, and if the country's prospered. The fantastic four were now at the outer side of the bridge.

Kiyoshi was stunned "The Naruto Bridge?" he looked at the whiskered boy in disbelief "What the hell did you do?"

Naruto's expression wasn't any less surprised "They named it after me? Why?"

"Because you drew the courage out in them. Looks like you have become somewhat of an idol to them." replied Kakashi looking at the bridge smiling.

Kiyoshi was looking back and forth between the other two guys of the team, but then looked at Hinata to see what her reaction is. Hinata was looking at Naruto smiling, she expected nothing less from his personality. Kiyoshi turned back to Kakashi "What happened here?"

The copy ninja leaned over and whispered "Team seven's first A-ranked mission took place here, it was to protect this bridge and the person building it. I'm not going to get into too much detail as to what went down in it."

"Sounds like an A-ranked personal secret." replied Kiyoshi

"If you really want to know, ask Naruto."

"Later"

The four of them crossed the bridge into the country on the other side. "Kakashi, do you think we'll meet Inari?" asked Naruto

"Definitely, he is the one that's going to be hosting our visit. When he heard that we were coming, they insisted on hospitalizing us."

Kiyoshi became uneasy from the word 'hospitalizing', it had brought too many memories back, but really wanted to know what went on down in this country when Naruto last visited, even more who this 'Sasuke' fellow was. Hinata was just as curious as Kiyoshi, she had never been to this country, and never heard of anyone idolizing Naruto other than herself. "Kakashi-sama, when are we going to start our mission?"

Kakashi looked at Kiyoshi from the corner of his eye and back at Hinata "In two days. Naruto and I have to catch up on some old times with our host, where as Kiyoshi needs some more training. I think you should help him out, you two can train after we've arrived and unpacked."

The four walked into town, which now had more paved roads, more goods and services, and many more people than they'd seen in their previous visit. "Wow, the bridge really worked for this place," said Naruto in awe.

"Naruto, there's a familiar face in my sight." Kakashi referred his attention to a kid with black spiky hair, and a huge crossbow on his back looking through the fruit selection in the market.

"Inari!" Hollered the blonde catching Inari's attention. He looked delighted as Naruto bolted towards him. "How have you been?"

"Everything's been awesome ever since you left." smirked the pre-teen.

"Hey... What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't you cry now Naruto..."

"But I'm happy to see you..." there was a small pause and they both started laughing.

The trio came up to the two spiky-haired jokers "So... Naruto, introduce me to these two intriguing homo-sapiens." Inari pointed two fingers at Kiyoshi and Hinata.

Naruto contemplated over something witty to answer "This is Kiyoshi, and he's hardly human." then Naruto turned to examine Hinata "saving best for last, this is Hinata, the best thing's that's ever happened to me." he concluded beholding her deep eyes.

Inari's grin grew so wide that he started squinting "Ahh Naruto you dog... got yourself a girlfriend have you?" then halted from further embarrassing Naruto, remembering what happened last time he called someone Naruto's girlfriend.

The lovebirds were blushing from the comment, still not breaking sight of each other's loving eyes. Kiyoshi angled towards Kakashi on a forty five degree angle to nudge him smirking "and you said they were hopeless..."

"It was you who said that."

"Oh yeah..."

Inari recalled the girl that he referred to as Naruto's girlfriend several years back "Oh yeah... What happened to SakuMURMUMPH!" he was cut off by Kiyoshi shoving an apple into his mouth.

"Careful, it might break the mood." warned Kiyoshi

"Mmhmm" nodded Inari

"Kiyoshi, keep an eye on the sweethearts, I need to talk to Inari for a moment." Kakashi said shoving Kiyoshi aside and dragging Inari away by the apple.

"Uhh... all right..." then glanced at the two beside him smiling at eachother "Ah shit... uh, rock-paper-scissors anyone?" no response "Note to self; Kill Kakashi" thought the ticked off teen, and started scheming Kakashi's demise.

"Inari, here's the short version of what's happening. We made Naruto hate Sakura, and got him together with Hinata... all thanks to Kiyoshi." Kakashi informed the smirking pre-teen

"What about..."

"I'm afraid Sasuke went down the road of revenge, and joined an evil mastermind with a small nose, pale skin, and who likes to kidnap little children."

Terror came over Inari's face "You don't mean..."

"Orachimaru."

Inari's face eased "I thought you meant someone else." sighed the kid.

"Umm... ok. Anyways, Naruto's pretty broken up by the fact that team seven is falling apart, and any hint of the topic could send him into depression. Try to avoid the subject."

"Ok."

"It's good to see you again. I see you started after Naruto's fashion..."

"What?"

"Nothing"

Kiyoshi was dying of boredom lying next to the pair of lovers. "Conversation... need conversation..." he gasped pulling his arm towards them in a begging manner. No reply. "Some friends you guys are..." he said getting up and dusting himself off. Spotting the other two returning he got a fire in his eyes "Where the hell were you two?!!" he screamed pointing the index finger at Kakashi and Inari.

"I gave him some disclaimers," explained Kakashi. Turned to Hinata and Naruto "They're still like that?"

"I think they've hypnotized eachother," replied Kiyoshi lowering his index finger and forgetting that he was mad "What should we do?"

"You carry Naruto, I'll carry Hinata. I don't want you to do something stupid to her."

Kiyoshi got a twitch in his eye "I wouldn't do that!" roared Kiyoshi with a refueled anger towards Kakashi.

"Yeah, right..." said Kakashi egging the kid on. Picked Hinata up "Let's go, I want to unpack and have a nice swim."

"Will I get to see your face"

"Yes"

"Really?!!"

"No"

"Aw." Kiyoshi pushed Naruto down and carried him under the armpit. "This guy is like an over-sized toy soldier."

The five of them went down the streets of the Wave country, looking over the busy stands and stores. A pleasant feeling was on everybody's minds, with the exception of Kiyoshi who was uneasy from being in and/or around the vicinity of the Wave country. He felt a headache coming on; something bad was going to happen.

Author's note: I'm sorry I didn't post or reply for some time (I actually reply), The explanation for that is; I was away on business matters. So, in reply to crystal, I agree with the fact that nobody's perfect, and I did not overlook it, there's something in store for Kiyoshi, I won't give anything away. However, the thing I will give away is, he will give something to Naruto and Hinata.


	19. Chapter 18 Gone Fishing

Chapter 18 

The following morning Kiyoshi woke up sore from the previous day's training, and startled by seeing a yet another type of ceiling above him. Naruto was sleepless; he couldn't make any sense of what was happening to him. The spiky-haired blonde stopped staring into the hypnotic white color of the wall, and got up to see the many colors outside his window. He looked out to see Inari who had set out a fishing-line and was doing a kata involving his crossbow.

Inari was in deep focus, so when Kiyoshi said "Hey!", he turned around and shot a bolt into the guy's stomach. "Ugh!" Kiyoshi was bending over the sharp stick that impaled him.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! I'll go get a doctor!" screamed the kid, starting to run in the direction of his house for help.

Kiyoshi calmly replied "Don't be so loud in the morning, some people are still sleeping..." Naruto came out of the house resting his head on the arms reaching behind it. "Like him... speaking of which, Naruto, why are you already awake? You usually sleep at this time."

Inari was staring at Kiyoshi in shock. "Naruto! I accidentally shot him!" exclaimed the pre-teen turning to Naruto, and then back at Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi pulled the bolt out of his stomach "Kid, you don't really know if you've shot me." He unbuckled his vest and took the load out. The load was broken through, and Kiyoshi was actually bleeding. "Wow, nice firepower... may I see your crossbow?"

Naruto walked right past them ignoring the two, and headed towards the dock where Inari's line was cast. "This is so unreal... How could I have not noticed Hinata for so long? She's perfect!" he sat down meditating on the idea.

Inari had calmed down a little and handed his crossbow over to Kiyoshi "Here. How could you survive something like that?"

Kiyoshi was too busy examining the crossbow to reply accordingly, so he tossed his weight to Inari who struggled to hold it up and put it down on the ground. "This is a nice crossbow, how many can it shoot up to? Eleven bolts at a time?" Inari nodded smiling "Must be killer to reload though. What's your reload rate?"

"0.5 seconds per bolt. The maximum I used in combat was three, and it took me 0.7 to reload them." replied Inari with a shaky voice still unable to understand how Kiyoshi could be speaking so calmly after being attacked.

The blonde whistled, "Wow, that's quite something, you've surpassed the reload speed of the average bow user. May I watch you train?"

"Uhh, sure." Inari walked back to his starting position reattaching his crossbow onto his back. Then started his movements with a swift spin removing his crossbow, making a reload motion, and firing to his left from a low stance, the same move was made attacking his right. The next five moves were him going forward in a zigzag, spinning his crossbow in a fast and synchronized pattern, with a mix of reload motions and clicking sounds from the trigger when the cross-bow was aimed at his imaginary targets. There were several spins in the end of the zigzag; Inari's body was twisting from one side to the other, with series of clicks and melee attacks from the ranged weapon.

Kiyoshi was getting more interested with each of Inari's moves, he couldn't catch many of the fast motions, or what they implied. He started clapping when Inari was done with the kata "That was awesome! You've definitely got the hang of your weapon." He thought back recalling the kata, trying to find 'that little something' that Inari was lacking. "There's something missing though..."

"What do you mean?" the pre-teen had already forgotten the damage he inflicted on the guy standing before him "What's missing?"

Kiyoshi snapped his fingers indicating that he found the problem. "Your body is tough, your mind is concentrated, but neither of them are calm."

"Huh?"

"I know, it's kind of hard to understand if you're 12 years old, or if you're Naruto. Each move has to be done calmly and fearlessly, the physical attacks can easily be evaded or stopped, but it's your spirit that can't, and it has to pierce the soul of your opponent before you can truly complete the attack. In order to do that you have to be calm, but not relaxed"

Inari considered this "I think I somewhat understand, but how do I practice it?"

"Meditation."

"What should I meditate on?"

Kiyoshi kicked the idea around in his head "I think the best meditation for you would be to meditate on your surroundings. You're in luck, as I've deducted, you practice your combat skills to pass the time while fishing. Meditating is best trained when doing something relaxing, such as fishing."

Inari locked his crossbow onto his back, and reached inside his sleeve pulling a folded fishing rod out. "Here, join me," said Inari handing the rod to the blonde.

Naruto was laying back and observing the clouds when the other two came up. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Kiyoshi was looking down at Naruto, slightly kicking him "what's wrong with you lately? I've never seen you this relaxed."

"I'm not sure, for some reason I just want to lay back and enjoy life rather than make an ass of myself trying to prove my worth to everyone."

"I know why" Inari replied catching their attention

"Tell him, I'll set up the fishing rod," said Kiyoshi moving his hair out of the way and leaning over the fishing equipment.

Naruto didn't notice the fact that he was being upstaged by a pre-teen, "Why?"

"You just found love, and you can't seem to bother yourself with something as silly as respect." the kid explained with a smirk.

Naruto observed the boy standing above him. "You've really changed since the last time I've been here. I remember you being exceedingly emotional back then, now you are 'that social guy'"

"You've changed too" replied the boy

Kiyoshi butted into the conversation "You wouldn't know, this might be temporary. The Naruto you see before you only showed himself less than a week ago." Kiyoshi corrected Inari, not looking up from his occupied hands.

"Hey..." said Naruto in a rare disappointment turning his head to look at Kiyoshi

"You know it's true, don't deny it. Before Hinata confessed to you, you were the clueless Naruto that you always were." confirmed the long-haired blonde, once again moving the hair out of the way to see what he was doing.

"You only met me less than two weeks ago! How could you possibly know?"

"Power of deduction." grinned Kiyoshi

Inari was listening to the conversation and chuckling. He then remembered Kiyoshi taking a bolt from him "Kiyoshi, aren't you in pain?"

"Don't ruin the good mood."

"Let me see your wound. It could be bad, my bolts go at an exponential speed compared to the ones shot from normal cross-bows." he tried to get close to Kiyoshi's stomach.

"Get away from me!" said Kiyoshi backing up and falling over the along with his almost-prepared fishing rod. Making an empty sphere of chakra before hitting the water's surface.

"Alright, geez. Sorry for caring." said Inari offering a helping hand down to Kiyoshi who was sinking from his ridiculous weight. "What the hell?!!" screamed Inari jumping into the water to save the sinking Kiyoshi. The kid grabbed onto him only to be pulled down along with the 1100 pounds of Kiyoshi. The sinking blonde signaled him to let go and swim back up to the surface, Inari complied. He got back to the surface gasping for air, and got back onto the dock with the help of Naruto's hand.

"Where is he?!!" screamed Naruto

Inari kneeled down on his fours, catching his breath "I couldn't bring him up, I think a squid is pulling him down."

Naruto looked down into the bottomless water. "He should be fine."

Kiyoshi already reached the bottom and was walking to the nearest beach, and taking small breaths from the sphere of air in his hand, conserving his limited air. "I'd hate to see what would happen if I were in deeper waters" he thought to himself slowly moving his free hand in front of his eyes, removing the waving free-form hair from his sight.

Naruto picked the fishing rod out of the water, finished setting it up and cast it out. Inari was shocked by Naruto's lack of action "What's wrong with you? How can you be so calm?"

"It's as you said, I'm in love. Kiyoshi can take care of himself, and I don't need to prove anything to anyone." smiled Naruto

"But he has nothing to breathe! And he's fighting a squid!" exclaimed the kid

Naruto sat down holding his rod "shh, you'll scare the fish. First of all, he has air; he took a good amount with him before he went down. Second of all, there's no squid."

"If nothing's pulling him down, why didn't he float up?"

"He weighs 1100 pounds, of course he'll sink." Replied Naruto keeping concentration on the task at hand.

Inari was shocked, but then remembered the plate Kiyoshi pulled out of his vest, the plate that stopped his bolt. "1100 pounds? No wonder I couldn't help him." sat down next to Naruto and picked up his rod, reeling a foot-long fish out.

"Nice one"

Kiyoshi had reached the shore, came up from the underwater like a crab, gasping for air. "That was a close one" he said to himself and started walking back to the dock.

Hinata was in her room reading a romance novel with a smile, when Kakashi knocked on the door. "Come in" replied Hinata

"Have you seen the guys?"

"They're fishing."

"Perhaps you need some time with Naruto"

Hinata smiled sweetly and slightly blushed "He's busy, I'll talk to him when he has time."

"Suit yourself." replied the 'couldn't-care-less' ninja and left, closing the door after himself.

Kiyoshi, soaked head to toe, came up to the two fishermen, and sat down in between them, dripping. Naruto gave the rod back to Kiyoshi "Thanks" replied the wet teen.

"I'm going to go check on Hinata, see you guys later," said Naruto getting up and walking away.

"See ya." replied Kiyoshi closing his eyes along with Inari for meditation. "Inari" the boy didn't open his eyes or turn his head, but was listening "Listen to the sounds of the nature. Feel the vibrations of movements around you."

"Oss."

Naruto was walking calmly with his hands in his pockets towards the house. Kakashi was reading his book on the front porch when he saw the no longer spazmatic kid coming up, "Hey Naruto, got bored of relaxation?"

"No, I came to see Hinata. Is she awake?" asked Naruto walking by the copy ninja.

"Of course, she's an early riser. She's been awake for a while now." replied Kakashi interested by Naruto's 'cool' attitude. "Naruto, what's happened to you?"

The crisp-blue eyed boy smiled "Of all people, you should already know the answer to that." He walked into the house closing the door after himself.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kakashi thought to himself for two seconds, but then turned back to his book.

Hinata was lying on her bed with her head turned, looking at the vase of sunflowers on the table beside her. Naruto knocked on the door and Hinata replied, "Come in"

Naruto came inside smiling "Hey Hinata-chan"

Hinata smiled back at him "I could get used to you saying that"

"Please do" he replied coming up to her. Hinata scooted over and Naruto laid himself down by her side "This is priceless." said the blonde looking up at the ceiling.

"I wish I had told you before," said Hinata still slightly shy. "So much time wasted."

Naruto turned his head look into her eyes "Don't say that, it was completely my fault, I don't know what I was thinking..." He was stopped by her gentle kiss. He closed his eyes and took the moment in. "This is definitely priceless."

Kiyoshi was fishing alongside Inari. "Clear you mind, take everything in as if you were just born. Smell the ocean breeze, feel it flow through your hair."

Inari became shocked and opened his eyes "oh my god" he was so used to the smell of the sea and its air currents, that he forgot what bliss came from it when he first saw it. "That's amazing"

"Good job on clearing your mind, now close your eyes and concentrate on feeling the life flowing from fish, through the water, and through your rod. Lock onto that life force and control it."

Inari was now completely lost "I don't understand"

"Open your eyes and watch" Inari opened his eyes gaining his sight back, then turned to Kiyoshi and started observing. Kiyoshi picked the rod up and held it in his hands calmly, with his eyes still shut. He slightly twisted his head about five degrees, as is looking around "Now." he tightened his grip and started reeling the line in. The rod bent creating an arc as Kiyoshi was keeping the handle vertical. The line's contact with the surface was going further and further away from them "There it is" Kiyoshi calmly slid his lids open and watched a three-foot fish jump out of the water five feet into the air, leaving a trail of sparkling water.

Inari was standing there watching Kiyoshi reeling the beast in awe. "How did you do that? That breed of fish doesn't go for your bait."

"It wasn't attracted by the bait. It was attracted by my soul which I reached out through my rod, and into the water." replied Kiyoshi lifting the monstrous fish from the water. "Let's bring this thing back to your place, we'll talk more on the way."

Inari started packing up, while Kiyoshi was unhooking the fish. They finally packed up and were on their way back "Inari" the boy turned to Kiyoshi still in shock from what he had just witnessed "What's your weapon?" Inari was slightly confused by the question, so Kiyoshi rephrased "What is the weapon that makes you superior over everything and everyone else?"

Inari though about it for a moment "My cross-bow?" Kiyoshi shook his head "Fishing rod?"

"No Inari" he looked over at the kid, smiling. "It's right here" said the blonde tapping the pre-teen on the forehead. "It's your mind. It's your mind that you have to keep when all those about you are losing theirs."

"So you just outsmarted that fish?"

Kiyoshi shook his head "The philosophy of the mind extends beyond smarts and thoughts. That's as far as I'm able to explain the idea to you, the rest will come with experience." concluded the teen.

Kakashi lifted his eyes from his book to see the two guys coming back from fishing, carrying a three-foot long fish "I see you had lady luck on your side"

"Perhaps" replied the blonde winking to Inari, who started laughing.

The lazy morning left everyone with a feeling of bliss and relaxation. The little events that were carried out would remain in everyone's minds for as long as they would live.


	20. Chapter 19 Sweet Dreams Kiyoshi

Chapter 19 

After an epic struggle in the kitchen, Kiyoshi was able to finally gut, chop up and fry the fish into a crisp and delicious meal with a side dish of fried potatoes. Naruto came down into the kitchen with his hand around Hinata's shoulder, both drawn by the delicious smell.

"Smells nice..." said the copy ninja coming inside and putting his book away.

Everyone sat down as Kiyoshi was putting finishing touches on the fish, and Inari was still setting the table up. "Inari, do you have a lemon?" asked the cook rummaging through the refrigerator.

"There should be three left in the fruit drawer." replied Inari

Kiyoshi took a lemon, chopped it into five sections, and put one on each plate finishing his composition "There." The two of them set the plates in front of the rest of them

"Itadakimasu" said everyone at the same time digging into the food.

"I could get used to this," stated the whiskered teen through his full mouth.

Kiyoshi lifted his eyes up at Naruto, still leaning over his meal, chewing. Then his eyes drifted towards Kakashi, who met his, they were thinking the same thing "He's too relaxed, and very deeply in love, this could become a hazard for the mission."

Everyone was done eating, smiling with satisfaction and leaning on one side in a lazy fashion across from their empty plates. Inari was going over the wonderful morning and remembered something again "Kiyoshi, How's your stomach?"

Kiyoshi remembered what Inari was talking about. "I'm fine" he replied getting up and bowing. The blonde then turned to exit the house.

"Where are you going?" asked Kakashi

"I lost weight, got to get it back." came the reply from outside, and the door closed after it. Inari got up and started clearing the table.

Kakashi turned back to the couple smiling at eachother "So... how are you two hanging on?"

The two of them turned, and Hinata replied "Couldn't be better."

"Want to bet?" smirked the masked ninja

Naruto's smile faded "What are you getting at?"

Kakashi didn't want to start a 'sex' conversation over the breakfast table, so he improvised "Battle"

The two of them looked at him with interest "Battle?"

"As you two know, Konoha treasures partnership over completion of the mission, and what better partnership than a boy-friend girl-friend relationship?" he looked up and thought about what he just said "Other than a marriage." turned back at them smirking "But you two are well on your way."

The lovebirds blushed at the statement and then got back to the conversation "so what are you suggesting?"

"When I fought Kiyoshi, he was able to teach a very interesting fighting style to a pair or graduating academy students in under 10 hours."

Naruto shook his head as if he had just heard him wrong "Umm... what?"

"It was quite a sight when they used it. They were flying all over the place, and I don't mean they were just quick, they were actually flying." Kakashi carried on with his story ignoring Naruto.

"Hahah, very nice story Kakashi, but it's impossible to teach a fighting style to academy students in that little time, let alone teach them how to fly." scoffed Naruto leaning back.

This however, caught Hinata's attention "What do you mean?"

Kakashi looked at the two and carried on "They really were flying, well... the kids were flying, he was just jumping off the ground swinging attacks at me. They supported eachother in midair, not having to touch the ground. What's even more amazing, he was able to teach them the twists of aerodynamics, to have the best effect of evading my attacks."

Naruto and Hinata gave eachother a look "They were supporting eachother in midair?"

"They were like fireworks. I've never seen such teamwork done by chuunins, let alone academy students." He glanced at the couple, who had their complete attention directed at him "You should ask him to teach it to you."

Inari came for the fifth time getting the final handful of the table's utensils. "That Kiyoshi's full of surprises isn't he?"

"Eavesdropper" said the copy ninja smiling at him

At this moment Kiyoshi walked through the door, adjusting the weight in his vest, when all eyes were directed to him. He froze in mid-step looking over the stares that were coming from everyone in the room "What? Do I have something on my face?"

In a couple of hours everyone was undergoing their training. Inari was following Kiyoshi's advice and meditating with a fishing rod in his hands. Kakashi was lazily leaning against a tree reading his book, at the same time tossing a kunai at a target on a tree, retracting it after impact using an attached chakra-string. Hinata and Naruto were following Kiyoshi through the forest, searching for a good training spot.

"This is a good one," said the longhaired blonde looking at the setting. "The trees are nice and close to eachother"

The couple looked around and agreed. "What now?" asked spike.

"Now, you're going to move around the terrain as low as you can, without touching the ground, or putting chakra to keep yourself attached to the trees. You shouldn't need to if you're moving at the right speed," replied Kiyoshi making the other two trainees drop their hands and stare at him in disbelief. "As such" He ran at a tree, jumping from one tree-trunk to the other in quick motion, jumping off of another, grabbing on and spinning around the third. After five minutes of constant motion, flipping and twisting, he stopped and stood before them with a calm breath.

"Shouldn't we start off with something more simple?" asked Hinata

He looked over them "You two aren't academy students, and you should learn how to control yourself in terrains without the use of chakra. Only then will you be able to learn what I'm going to be teaching you."

The two ran towards the trees, Hinata was getting the hang of it from the start, thanks to a lifetime of training taijutsu. Naruto on the other hand wasn't having much success, he was hugging every tree he jumped to, "This isn't working for me!" he exclaimed.

Kiyoshi put his fingers on his eyebrows, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "This guy's too slow and unsteady." Then realized what was needed for this exercise; agility and control. Naruto had neither. Kiyoshi came up with something and snapped his fingers "Hinata, you keep training, I need to take care of Naruto" he came over to the whiskered guy hugging a tree, hanging on. "Naruto, you're too slow. Give me your pouch."

Naruto climbed down and handed the pouch to the instructor "Here".

"Ok, now go stand in between those three trees." said Kiyoshi reaching his hands into the pouch, setting something up inside it. Naruto reached the location that Kiyoshi pointed out "Good, I don't have a whip, but this'll do." He dropped Naruto's pouch, holding on to what he made. He took ten kunai, and attached them to ten wires, holding the opposite ends of wires with each finger. "Evade" said Kiyoshi starting to whip and retract several of the kunai at Naruto, who was now jumping from tree-trunk to tree-trunk faster than he ever imagined possible.

Hinata stopped to see the why Naruto was screaming, she came to the clearing to see a funny setup of Kiyoshi chasing Naruto around, spinning and shooting multiple wire-propelled Kunai at Naruto "wow┘"

"Faster! Don't touch the ground! More dynamics! Don't let my attacks hit you!" screamed Kiyoshi not letting Naruto drop his guard for a single fraction of second. "No chakra!"

"Are you trying to kill me?!!" screamed Naruto evading three attacks at a time "Aah!"

Hinata was looking at the scene and giggling "This should help Naruto train both; agility and control." She then turned around and got back to her own training

Four hours had passed. Naruto was sore, but now had the hang of what he was supposed to do "What now?"

"Rest" replied Kiyoshi starting to walk back to see how Hinata was doing.

Naruto stood up in anger "I'm strong! I can handle anything you throw at me!" screamed Naruto

Kiyoshi turned his head towards Naruto "I'm not questioning your power, I'm questioning your control, the next exercise is very delicate, it'll bind you with Hinata, and you will act as one. In order to do that, you need maximum control and concentration, or you'll hurt her. Now stop being childish and rest!"

Naruto pouted "fine" and sat down, leaning against a tree, closing his eyes, starting to snore.

"That was fast," thought Kiyoshi turning around to go check on Hinata.

Hinata was also tired, but had perfected her movements. She spotted Kiyoshi coming back "Hey Kiyoshi-kun, where's Naruto?"

"Asleep." he thought about the current situation, and suggested, "How about we call it a day? I'm tired."

"No you aren't."

" I'm VERY tired."

"Alright, you go, Naruto and I will train something else today."

"Thanks, see ya." he started back to Inari's "Oh, and don't learn my style without me. That can be dangerous." Hinata nodded, and Kiyoshi walked away leaving her jumping from trunk to trunk. He strolled back with a headache which increased with each step "What the hell is this?" thought the blonde closing his eyes and massaging his temples.

After half an hour Hinata decided to take a break with Naruto, she found him lying under one of the trees where he trained. She came over to him, kissed him on the forehead, making him smile in his sleep. She laid herself beside him and closed her eyes.

Kakashi got bored of tossing the kunai, so he was now using it to keep a shuriken spinning in mid-air. He saw Kiyoshi in the corner of his eye walking in the direction of Inari's residence, eyes closed, "Hey Kiyoshi, watch out for the..." Kiyoshi walked into a tree "┘tree"

"Ow, can't even close my eyes..." replied the kid.

"Headache?"

"Yeah"

"Naruto?"

"No"

"Then what?"

"Don't know, it just came along." he looked at Kakashi "Do you feel weird vibes coming from around here?"

Kakashi looked around "No."

"Must be my imagination"

The two walked back to Inari's house. Kakashi saw the kid meditating on the dock, and left Kiyoshi to join him. As he was coming closer, Inari reached inside his sleeve, took a folded up rod out, and reached it over to Kakashi. "You've gotten the hang of this," said Kakashi sitting down, setting up his rod.

"It's amazing, I never knew how tense I was before Kiyoshi taught me to meditate." stated the pre-teen

Kakashi smiled "You too? He seems to have the effect of calming people, just as Naruto has the effect of making friends with everyone he sees."

"I still can't get the spiritual thing though. That fish he caught, he caught it with a worm." said the kid

"Wasn't that a predator fish?"

"Exactly, apparently he used his meditation to catch it."

"Let's try it," said Kakashi closing his eyes

Kakashi went straight to bed, and fell asleep before he realized that he didn't get undressed. He slept through the day and into the Night.

Dream

A woman screaming with background noises of growling and other screams "NOO! AAAAAAH!" night, screams, fire, blood, fear, terror, darkness.

Kiyoshi wakes up in the middle of the night, sweating and panting. It's dark; his eyes are getting accustomed to it. He slowly shifts his sight to the three shadows in each corner of the room. With a blinding speed, they all appear beside him, eighteen claws piercing his body. He tries to breathe, only to choke on his own blood. The claws get retracted and stab him three more times each. He tries to scream in pain, but his throat is pierced seven times. He looks up in terror, his eyes now completely accustomed to the darkness, the three figures being slick monsters with many rows of unbelievably sharp teeth, no eyes, claws as long as his kodachis, and thick, sharp, bony tails. The last thing he sees is one of the beasts opening its jaws and going to bite a chunk out of his head.


	21. Chapter 20 Longlost Teamwork

Chapter 20 

"GUH!" Kiyoshi woke up sweating and breathing heavily trying to catch his breath. His dream seemed so real that he couldn't breathe in the real world. "What the hell's happening?" he looked around examining in each corner of his room, looking for his nightmares, "That's messed up" whispered the terrified blonde pinching himself to make sure he wasn't in another dream. His shirt and hair felt cold against his skin due to the cooled sweat. Kakashi knocked on the door, "come in!" replied the teen dropping himself back on the bed, only to quickly get back up from the unpleasant sensation of wet clothes reattaching themselves to his back.

Kakashi walked in "You alright? You look as if you've just seen a ghost."

"Yeah, the ghost was I."

Kakashi gave him a strange look "Whatever, we start the mission tomorrow, you have the whole of today to train with Hinata and Naruto."

"I'll get ready,■ said Kiyoshi undressing from his cold-catching attire.

"I'll just be leaving now..." stated the masked Ninja backing away and out the door, closing it after himself.

Kiyoshi came up to the closet door, opening it and looking in the mirror hanging on the inside. Eventually undressing to his t-shirt and taking that off along with his pants, he revealed many scars, varying from short deep ones to long and heavy ones stretching across his entire body. He was quite used to the sight, and didn't really pay any attention to them. He then took a clean t-shirt and loose training-pants, put them on concealing his scars again, and got ready to go outside.

Kiyoshi walked outside to the water holding his clothes and a bar of soap. After emptying the pockets and loads from the clothes, he tied his hair back with a rubber band, and started washing.

Naruto came outside spotting the stranger by the water. He came over "Excuse me? Who are you?"

Kiyoshi turned his head to look at the whiskered guy beside him "amnesia?"

"Oh it's just you," replied Naruto startled by Kiyoshi's new look. "I hope you don't intend on keeping this fashion... Are you?"

Kiyoshi smirked "what? You don't like it?"

"Whatever... say, are you going to be catching out breakfast again?"

"I can't, I'm busy" replied Kiyoshi, "Besides..." turning to look at the boy on the dock "I don't want to be upstaged him."

Inari was having no luck understanding what Kiyoshi taught him. He was getting the normal fish that he usually got. Big enough to eat, but nowhere near as delicious as what he ate the previous morning. "Grr, what the hell am I supposed to do?" thought the kid frustrated over the meditation.

"You'll never achieve anything from meditation if you're so tense." said Hinata coming from behind, startling the boy.

Inari was disheartened, he couldn't even sense her coming, let alone do something as advanced as what Kiyoshi did. "I know, but it's so hard."

Hinata sat down beside him "I know, meditation is a tricky thing, it takes a lot of patience. If you start rushing it, your progression will go in the wrong direction. "

"Can you do that spirit thing that Kiyoshi did, to catch yesterday's fish?"

Hinata recalled sensing Kiyoshi's presence within the fish "Yes, but don't concern yourself with that. So far, you've been able to reach the first stage and keep it for a short time."

Inari filled her gap "about seven seconds"

"Fine, now you have to learn to keep that first stage, you can't advance if you don't know the basics. That goes for anything you do." Inari closed his eyes, and tried to concentrate "No, don't concentrate. It's supposed to be more of a calm walk through your mind. You have to feel your surroundings, not focus in on them."

The kid eased his eyes and let out a soft "Oss"

The girl smiled "that's the way."

"Come on man! I'm hungry!" complained Naruto to the busy teen in front of him.

"I'm not catching today's breakfast, and that's final," replied the guy with the pony-tail "If you want to eat, go make yourself something, I saw eggs in the fridge."

Naruto looked down in shame "I don't know how to cook..."

"Oh for the love of..." Kiyoshi stopped washing his clothes and looked out at the line connecting the sea and sky. Then turned to the annoyance on legs "I thought you lived by yourself. How can you live by yourself and not know how to cook?"

"Ramen."

Kiyoshi was now drowning himself, making Naruto rush over to pull his head out of the water. After having sat on the grass for a few minutes get back into his senses, he undid his hair, squeezing the water out of it. "You live off of Ramen?" Naruto nodded, once again in shame. "Alright, I'll teach you how to fry an egg, but make three clones and make them wash my clothes."

Naruto executed his key technique, releasing three clones, and followed Kiyoshi into the house. "So... what's an egg?" asked spike, making Kiyoshi walk into a wall.

"Do you at least know what food is?"

"I was kidding, of course I know what an egg is." laughed Naruto

"I'm going to kill you one day,■ stated Kiyoshi making the guy beside him slightly nervous. They came up to the fridge, Kiyoshi pointed at a cupboard beside Naruto "Get a frying pan from in there, it's the round, semi-flat, black thing with a handle." Naruto pulled it out and looked back at Kiyoshi inquisitively, to check if it's the right thing. "Good" replied Kiyoshi taking butter and a carton of eggs out of the refrigirator.

"Butter?"

"It works much better than sunflower oil, gives it a better taste." explained Kiyoshi, setting the items on the table, turning the stove on, and tying his hair back. "How do you like them?" Naruto shrugged "I like them over-easy, I'll show you how to cook that." He took a small chunk of butter, and started to spread it out over the heating up frying pan. "Get a lid." Naruto started rummaging through a drawer, eventually finding it. "The pan heats up pretty quickly,■ stated Kiyoshi holding the black utensil in one hand, and taking two eggs with the other. In a quick motion, he broke them both over the ridge of the pan and poured the egg insides on the hot surface. The eggs started sizzling and turning white in less than a second after contact with the round surface "Give me the lid" said Kiyoshi reaching his hand out.

"Here" Naruto handed it over, and Kiyoshi covered the egg. "What'd you cover it for?"

"Keeps the hot air in, which makes the skin over the yoke turn white. Oh crap, I forgot to put salt on it, it's supposed to be done as soon as you pour the egg on the pan, oh well, you get the idea."

"That won't taste good all by itself."

Kiyoshi looked back at the pan "You're right, but it should be done any second now." he took a peek under the lid, then took it off, removing the pan from the stove "get a plate and a fork or spatula." Naruto complied doing the latter. When the egg was salted and set on the table, Kiyoshi put the pan back on the stove and took sunflower oil, pouring it. "I wonder if Inari has bacon..." he looked in the fridge, "Nope, but he has the next best thing." taking out some bologna, chuckling.

"Bologna?"

"Hell yeah!" Kiyoshi took a knife, and three pieces of the meat; cut each into four sections, tossing them on the pan. Turned back to the pan, flipping each of the pieces over, eventually taking them off and putting them on a piece of bread after spreading butter over it. "Here, this should go nicely with the egg." said the blonde handing the sandwich over to Naruto

"This is concentrated heart-attack," complained Naruto "There's so much butter on this..."

"Shut up and taste it."

Naruto took a bite and smiled. "Alright, thanks."

"Another thing you could do is fry the bologna first, and then drop it on the egg while it's still not turned completely white, or use something else instead of bologna, my favorites are bacon or tomatoes."

"Awesome, now let me eat," said Naruto shooing Kiyoshi off.

Kiyoshi stormed out mumbling "friggin ingrate..." he walked out to find Naruto's clones playing soccer. After feeling for his weapon and failing to find it, he ran up to them making each with the exception of one explode in a cloud of smoke. Took the last clone by the throat, brought him closer to his face and said "Naruto, you abused my help. Unless it's a matter of life and death, you won't receive it again." with the final word exiting his lips, he punched through the clone, making it disappear.

The eating teen inside received the last images from the clones, and flew back from his meal. "What the hell?"

Kiyoshi got back to washing his clothes. After twenty minutes, he hung them off of branches on a tree, leaving them to dry. "Now I'm ready for training." Kiyoshi felt a ton of bricks fall on him, with the realization of the fact that he washed his clothes and made Naruto's breakfast, both dangerous procedures if one has no control over their body. "I think I'm getting the hang of this,■ thought Kiyoshi feeling around for his weights and failing to find them.

Inari and Hinata were sitting side-by-side meditating, when she opened her eyes in shock, remembering something very important. "Naruto is hungry,■ stated the girl getting up and rushing back to the house.

Inari was still sitting in a calm aura, eyes closed. "..." Was the only though on the kid's mind, absolute relaxation, he had his mind cleared from all the distractions of the human world.

Naruto was done eating, but he still felt empty. The one egg and some fried bologna didn't satisfy his stomach, his daily overdose of Ramen was coming back to haunt him. He was now getting ready to make himself another portion, somewhat nervous about making his first meal. "I wish somebody was here to supervise me... damn those clones." thought Naruto with an egg in his hand, afraid of breaking it completely rather making a crack. "How did Kiyoshi do this?"

Hinata rushed in seeing Naruto over the stove, ran up taking the frying pan off, and putting it under a cold stream of water from the tap. After a sigh, she turned to the blonde with a worried expression. "You've never cooked before, what were you thinking trying to do so now?!! And without supervision for that matter! Are you trying to burn this house down?!!"

"I... I'm sorry?" Naruto was slightly thrown off by Hinata's worry. After a small pause, he asked, "Can you watch over me?" reaching the egg over to Hinata.

Hinata looked around, and gave him a cup. "Start off simple, break the egg into the cup first, then you'll pour it on the pan." Naruto nodded hesitating with the egg. "Come on, it's not a baby. Just crack it, and pull it apart!" exclaimed the girl making him crush the egg in his fist. "No worries, try again." She said, handing him another egg to demolish.

Hinata showed him step-by-step safety operations that beginners should follow when cooking. Eventually giving up after he horribly mutilated the second-last egg, she made him breakfast, and they both left to train with Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi found that he had perfect control, strength, and balance with his weights still off, after testing his techniques with the weights taken off, he reattached whatever few he could back onto his light training attire.

Hinata spotted someone in the distance "What's Shikamaru doing here? And why is he blonde?" she asked, being slightly cautious.

"That's Kiyoshi... I don't know what he's thinking making a ponytail, but I don't like it." replied the whiskered guy beside her. Getting her eyes to look into his.

Hinata looked back at the figure and found Naruto to be correct, it was in fact Kiyoshi. The pony-tailed teen spotted them, and turned around to greet them with a smile. "Ready to carry on with the airborne training?"

"Oss, let's take it to the next level!" exclaimed Naruto eagerly at the thought of fighting side by side with Hinata.

"Not yet, warm up first, get the feeling of control before we go there." making Naruto look down in disappointment. "Gogogo!!!" screamed Kiyoshi attacking Naruto with several wire-propelled kunai

"AAH WHAT THE HELL!!! WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE?!! AAH!!!" screamed Naruto jumping from trunk to branch, back down to the trunk, off it and around another one, all moves to evade Kiyoshi's attacks. Hinata shook her head and walked off to train on her own. After two hours of non-stop adrenaline pumping action, Kiyoshi stopped, and Naruto fell to the ground panting. "Are we ready now?"

"We'll see when you catch your breath." replied the fashion-less teen standing over Naruto.

Hinata was also taking a break from the low movements, when Naruto came flying through the bushes into a tree near her, softening his impact with a crouch, jumping off again to fly at another one. Kiyoshi's Kunai were following Naruto's moves, as the owner of the daggers himself came running through the bush. "Hinata, join Naruto and fight back!"

Hinata jumped at a tree, avoiding one of Kiyoshi's tosses. The couple started jumping all around, eluding the daggers, beating off the kunai that are aimed at their partner. In slick movements, the two were moving in a zigzag formation from tree-trunk to tree-trunk, grabbing onto eachother to twist in a helix in mid-air, dodging Kiyoshi's flying daggers. Kiyoshi was having a blast watching the two working in absolute harmony "Perfect! Help eachother, work as one, have the strength and ability of a pack of ninja."

As the couple of flying lovebirds closed in on Kiyoshi, he let go of the wires, preparing for close-hand combat. In a flurry of kicks and punches, they were supporting themselves up in the air using Kiyoshi like a tree, and twisting around eachother to propel in mid-air. "This is awesome!" screamed Naruto.

Kiyoshi laughed "good, but could be better!" he said grabbing on to their ankles, flipping over backwards and flinging them in the opposite direction. The couple flipped over, crouched and sprung themselves off their trees, once again darting in Kiyoshi's direction. Naruto grabbed on to Hinata's hand, flying through the air. She pushed him off from side to side, getting him to bounce off trees on their way to Kiyoshi. Naruto's next motion made them flip over eachother in mid-air, jumping off Kiyoshi on impact. Hinata quickly went in a low, horizontal pose tripping Kiyoshi, making him vulnerable to attack, flying sideways through the air. At this moment, Naruto landed over Hinata and made a double-fist punch to Kiyoshi's stomach, making him fly through several trees and get stopped halfway through the fifth. The couple retracted and stood in their stances smiling at their success.

Author's note: Thank you to all those who read my sloppily-made fanfic. Unfortunately, I have to go to this annoying little thing called school, and exams are coming up. Where am I going with this? I'm afraid I might break my "Daily Updates" promise. As of tomorrow, I will be studying five hours a day (of homework homework), and I will most likely be unable to write my fic (might be able to slide by every now and then). The good news is, I have rations, meaning that I have five more chapters that are ready to be posted, so I'll be able to keep posting updates this week. That is all, special thanks to Kita (crystalfeathers), who reviews every single one of my chapters, putting rhetorucal questions every now and then.


	22. Chapter 21 Reality? Insanity?

Chapter 21 

Kiyoshi got up, dusting himself off from the splinters left from the broken tree. Looked at the two standing in a harmonious two-person battle stance, Hinata at the bottom, Naruto standing above her, both ready to bring another wave of pain on Kiyoshi.

The blonde started back towards them, "Have you two been training without me?"

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other in confusion, but understood why he asked the question. "No, we carried on with the tree-jumping exercise after you left." replied Hinata

"And frankly, you left to go to sleep a bit too early." finished Naruto "got tired from chasing me yesterday?"

Kiyoshi remembered his dream and shook it off, "Something like that" grinned the pony-tailed teen. "Anyways, if the way you two fought me was a natural reaction, you are meant to be together."

Naruto's foot slipped and he collapsed on top of Hinata, to which Kiyoshi replied "Smooth move, Mr. Careful..." then got cut off by the sight of the couple tenderly kissing. "I'm not done teaching you know..." there was no reply. Kiyoshi eventually got bored from watching them, so he started walking around, gathering firewood and edible objects from the wilderness around him.

"What happened to you Naruto?" asked the girl lying beside him, with her right hand on his cheek. "How is it possible for you to see me? Feel me?"

Naruto thought about the question at hand. He had never looked at her with his current eyes; he never knew how deep love could be. The words "I... don't know." came out of his mouth, the classic 'clueless Naruto' combination of words.

Hinata smiled and kissed him, "Good, don't change too much, I love you just the way you are."

"Lunch is ready!" yelled Kiyoshi from behind a campfire some distance away. The three of them feasted on some roasted mushrooms and fruit.

Naruto stared at Kiyoshi over the fire, chewing an apple. "Kiyoshi" said spike drawing the guy's attention "Why do you bother cooking, cleaning, and so on. You live by yourself, nobody's around to judge you."

"I can't explain it to you, it's something that will come to you in time." Kiyoshi turned to Hinata, still speaking to Naruto "You'll understand after a while of living with her love and care at your side."

There was a silence, but not an awkward one, surprisingly even Hinata felt no shyness from the comment. What was said was a well-known fact between them. The three finished their meals and got back to work. "This style of combat is most effective with multiple opponents," said Kiyoshi, turning to the blonde in orange "You saw me use it on your clones." then turned to the girl by Naruto's side "speaking of which, you were there too."

Naruto smacked his forehead for not sensing her presence back then "What the hell was wrong with me?"

Kiyoshi chuckled, holding back a horrible burn that he could use to answer Naruto's question. "Never mind that, what I'm getting at is that the style you just learned isn't exactly what I use. Do you know the difference?"

"Because there is only one opponent?" guessed Hinata

"Correct. But not only that, the reason my style only works for me, is because I have eleven hundred pounds on me. If someone else were to use my style, the attacks would have no effect on the opponents, having very little force to do damage." explained Kiyoshi "The reason that it works for you, is because you two support eachother. Support is something that an enemy would never give you, they usually back off in fraction of a second."

"Why are you telling us this?" asked the whiskered guy sitting beside Hinata.

"I'm telling you this, because the style that you are learning right now isn't mine, as a matter of fact it doesn't even exist, therefore I cannot teach it to you. From now on, you create the moves, kata, and the style itself. It's all yours."

Unlike Naruto, Hinata looked shocked. "Our own style? We're too young to make a martial art!"

Naruto was looking back and forth between the two "I don't get it, what's so big of a deal?"

Kiyoshi turned to Naruto with a serious expression, one that Naruto had never before seen on Kiyoshi's face. "Creating a martial art isn't something that's going to be a breeze. It takes serious understanding of human anatomy, bankai, and a deep philosophical mind."

Hinata thought about it, and realized that she (along with her clan) knew the human anatomy better than anyone else, and philosophy was something that she was taught from age four. Along with Naruto and his cloning ability, they would be able to create bankai and kata like no other has had a chance to. "I see what you're getting at." replied Hinata "And thank you for giving us permission to change your style."

Kiyoshi grinned, "My style will die along with me, create something that people can use."

With that said, Kiyoshi got up and started back to Inari's residence. Naruto called out to him from 20 meters away "Giving up on training again?!!"

Kiyoshi turned his head "I already told you! I can't train you any further, from now on, the two of you train and perfect your style by yourselves!"

Naruto and Hinata got up, put the fire out and started training, fighting Naruto's clones. Kiyoshi got back to the house to find Inari who had caught a bigger fish than his usual, and was frying it. After refusing to eat Inari's catch due to being full, the blonde went upstairs and took a bath.

"Ahh... that's nice." thought Kiyoshi lowering himself into hot water with steam surrounding him. He found these moments relaxing, but boring. He started reminiscing the fights that he had, examining each one of his scars. He was shocked to find several new ones, ones that he didn't have the previous day, there were many of them, then he felt the lower part of his throat, and discovered seven scars. Despite the hot water that he was in, chills went down his spine. "What the hell is this?" His dreams were carried out into real life, this was so confusing that he began to doubt that what happened was a dream. He just sat there, hands on his chest, wide eyed. "It had to be a dream, it just had to. Then where the hell did these scars come from?"

Someone knocked on the door, the sound was vague and distant to Kiyoshi, he was lost in his mind, not knowing what to think. "Is there anybody in there?" asked Kakashi, with no reply from the teen in the bath. Kakashi shrugged and walked in. "What happened to your body?" asked Kakashi after seeing the petrified Kiyoshi "and why didn't you answer?"

Kiyoshi slowly turned his head to look at the intruder "huh?"

"Anyone home?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"What happened to your body?" asked Kakashi again, referring to Kiyoshi's countless scars. Still being in shock, Kiyoshi blabbered out some gibberish, to which Kakashi replied, "That's nice..." turning around, walking out the door and closing it after himself.

Kiyoshi was staring at the door, his mind still absent from its rightful place. The image of the beast's jaw with several rows of sharp teeth came into Kiyoshi's mind. He remembered the monster biting a chunk out of his head, and flew back into a wall behind him "UGH!" The collision with the wall snapped him out of his thoughts. "Get the hell out of my head, nothing happened, you were just a dream," he whispered to the creature in his mind.

Kakashi went downstairs to kill time, and found a delicious meal waiting to be eaten "This is a bit too convenient." thought the copy ninja looking around for the owner of the fried fish.

"Hungry?" asked Inari coming in with a glass in his one hand and a pitcher of juice in the other.

"Yes, now that I see food. Is there any more?"

"Yeah, in the kitchen" replied the kid setting the drink and sitting down. "Kiyoshi declined his portion, take it."

"Thanks, he probably ate already."

Hinata and Naruto had given up on trying to create a kata, and were now training their style against some of Naruto's clones.

"Hinata!" yelled Naruto swinging towards her, powering up his rasengan.

"Oss." said Hinata, crouching against the trunk of a tree, grabbing onto Naruto's free arm and spinning him around, destroying several clones.

She let him go and they flew in opposite directions, jumping off trunks back towards eachother, Naruto once again charging his rasengan. This time, he grabbed onto the girl's arm, shoved the rasengan into a nearby tree, making them both spin in a cyclone of kicks, pounding the clones down. "Hahah! Take that Narutos!" cheered the blonde.

Hinata smiled at Naruto's whim. "Let's take a break Naruto-kun"

The rest of the day was carried out with same old routines, Naruto was training with Hinata, Kakashi took it easy like he always does, and Kiyoshi went to sleep on the verge of insanity. The following morning, Kiyoshi woke up with another headache.

Naruto barged in "Hey Kiyoshi, today is the d..." the rest of the sentence was cut off by the impact of a pillow with his face. "Alright" said the blonde taking feathers out of his mouth "Meet us downstairs for breakfast and then we're off." concluded the cheery teen closing the door after himself.

"Goddamn migraines..." Kiyoshi opened his eyes "I wonder if I'll have another near death experience today."

The rest of the group was downstairs along with Inari, eating Naruto's favorite meal; Ramen. Kakashi didn't eat, waiting until nobody was around to keep his face unknown. "Naruto, why ramen? And why for breakfast?" complained Inari.

Kakashi turned to the kid smiling, "Consider that to be a rhetorical question"

Kiyoshi walked down the stairs with a zombie-like expression. "Are we going yet?"

"Packing right after breakfast" replied Hinata

"I'll got get my clothes," said the blonde in a low voice, walking to the door taking his time using short steps, to get the dried attire from the tree-branches.

"What's wrong with him?" asked the girl staring at the source of silence walking out the door.

"Don't bother asking, he's messed up on way too many levels to be listed." replied the masked ninja "I accidentally walked in on him bathing, to find that his mind was absent, I also found that his body is being dominated by scars."

Naruto put his chopsticks down "You walked in on another man bathing?"

"Oh grow up Naruto. How many times have you visited the hot springs, and seen other men naked?"

"Very true, still what do you think happened to him?"

"Mentally?"

The blonde boy nodded

"God knows. He didn't have a family for as long as you did, also he had to kill since age seven. It can't be pretty in there."

"What about the scars?" asked the girl by Naruto's side.

"Definitely not self-inflicted, or at least not the ones that I saw." replied Kakashi "Probably got them from battles."

Kiyoshi walked in catching everyone's attention "Hey Kiyoshi!" they said simultaneously

The teen froze in his tracks "You've been talking about me again?"

"Yes"

"Anything good?"

"Just discussing your sanity"

"Ah. I'm going to go pack, when you come to a conclusion of this debate, tell me what it is." with that he walked up the stairs and into his room.

Half an hour later, everyone was full of food and packed, ready to go on their mission. Kiyoshi told everyone that he left his weights back at Inari's house to keep him from sinking underwater, Naruto was walking along Hinata, with his hand over her shoulder, Kakashi was looking over the route he drew on the map.

Walking on water, everyone with the exception of Kiyoshi, were in a fairly good mood. "Where's our first stop?" asked the blonde.

Kakashi replied by pointing at an Island two miles away. "That's the first place we have to check, you'll be going there."

Hinata gave the ninja a surprised look "By himself?"

"Yes" replied Kakashi coming over to the three-team members "We'll split up to cover more ground. We'll keep in contact through these head-sets" handing each an earpiece with an installed microphone. "We'll make a count-off every five minutes, if there's no reply, we'll assume that one of is in trouble. In that case, we can find the person with this." handing each one of them a transmitter and a small monitor with a blob of glowing green in the center.

"Do we have to split up?" asked Naruto, not wanting to leave the Hyugaa's side.

"Fine, you can go with Hinata, but no funny business!" replied the copy ninja

"What do you take me for?"

"I take you for Ero-Sennin's apprentice!"

"I'm no pervert!"

"I should hope so, you're not old enough." teased Kakashi. Then turned to longhaired teen "You all right with this?"

Kiyoshi nodded and looked at the map with three zigzagged lines connecting the islands. After an observation he whispered, "You planned on making them go together?"

"I planned on making Naruto fight to be with Hinata"

"Nice one". Kiyoshi put his finger on one of the lines "I'll take this route" he said installing Kakashi's devices "Keep in touch..." turned to Naruto, "Not literally" and ran off in the direction of the Island Kakashi had pointed out.

Naruto was getting pissed off "What's wrong with you two? Stop teasing us!"

Hinata giggled "Naruto, calm down." pointed out a route on the map "We'll take this one Kakashi-sama" with that she grabbed her boyfriend by the hand and ran off in a different direction.

"I guess I'll take the shallow-waters" thought Kakashi, and took off into the horizon. Heading towards the dot on the line where the two shades of blue met.


	23. Chapter 22 Separate Paths

Chapter 22 

The team traveled the chains of islands, keeping contact without fail. Three days had passed, they were able to search two thirds of the islands on their list, and Kakashi was starting to get a bit worried that they might have either missed the island or not have found it on record to begin with.

The sun was glowing with a warming red color, setting behind the dark-blue waters of the sea. Kakashi activated his microphone "Everyone, let's regroup at checkpoint..." he looked at his map to see which island was nearest to everyone, "checkpoint sixty seven"

There was a distorted transmission with Hinata's voice replying "Oss, we're already here. You and Kiyoshi get here, Naruto and I will finish searching it and make camp."

Kiyoshi's ear hurt from wearing Kakashi's means of keeping contact. Kakashi didn't get hear any word from Kiyoshi regarding the regrouping "Kiyoshi you there?"

"Roger that, I'll meet you there." replied the teen in a low and unhappy voice.

Kakashi and Kiyoshi were water running, enclosing on a 'U' shaped island. The lovebirds were done securing the island, made a camp-fire, and were watching the sunset with heads leaning against each other's, hands over shoulders. Hinata had a disturbing thought "Naruto..." the boy turned his head to acknowledge his attention. "Is this for real?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment "Yeah... I mean, why wouldn't it be?"

Hinata loved the boy, and wanted him to know just how much she did. But couldn't think of anything that would be sufficient enough to show the deepness of her affection. "There's so much I want to say to you, but the feelings that I have are not of this world. No example of sea or sky can ever reflect the deepness of my love towards you."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears, nor could he believe his reaction. He threw himself at the girl, his spirit flowing from his lips to hers, and into her heart. Hinata retracted with tears slowly creeping down her cheeks.

"Naruto-kun..." whispered the girl in awe. With a single kiss, he was able to prove his affection as being equal to that of hers. "Thank you!" exclaimed the Hyuga digging her face into the orange cloth of his shoulder.

He felt her warmth as he hugged her; he enclosed her with his arms as she was crying on his shoulder. Gave her one more peck on the forehead, lay his head on top of hers, and observed the sunset as the final rays of light met his eyes.

The two ninja came to the tip of the island, following the faint light given off by Hinata's campfire. Kiyoshi and Kakashi met eachother halfway up the mountain, nearly pumping eachother full of shurikens.

"Password?"

"Swordfish" replied the blonde "Password?"

"Albatross" confirmed Kakashi.

The two of them settled their shurikens back into their pouches. "Do you think they were considerate enough to make supper?" asked Kiyoshi walking alongside the copy ninja, still staying cautious of his surroundings.

"Who knows, Hinata is, but..." he was cut off by the scene behind the dying campfire in front of them "Naruto might distract her..."

Kiyoshi looked at what the ninja beside him was talking about, to find Naruto and Hinata hugging. "Well that's unexpected" joked Kiyoshi sarcastically. There was no reply from the couple, so he rushed over to check if they were all right. "They're asleep."

"It was a long day, let them sleep." said Kakashi sitting down on a log, warming his hands on the fire. "Kind of chilly tonight."

"Yeah." replied Kiyoshi coming over to sit on the opposite side of the fire, tying his hair back to not set it on fire. "Give me a soldier pill"

As the night carried on, Kakashi and the teen took turns keeping a lookout while the others slept in the tent.

When it was Kiyoshi's shift, he noticed the water of a nearby island lighting up. "What the hell..." thought Kiyoshi, staring at the phenomenon in awe. "That's awesome, probably a swarm of jellyfish or something."

The beautiful light show carried on for several hours non-stop. Eventually it faded into the night, moments before Kakashi woke up to relieve Kiyoshi of his shift.

"Thanks Kakashi" yawned the boy crawling into the tent, being too tired to notice the uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind.

In the morning, Naruto and Hinata awoke from their pleasant dreams of love, to find themselves in a tent, hugging eachother. The other two ninja were already awake and cooking breakfast.

Kiyoshi took a deep breath in, "Ahh, nothing like a morning in the wilderness." looking at the landscape before him. The trees were green, some still finishing their blossoms with final showers of pink petals slowly raining on the ground, as if in slow-motion. The sun was rising from behind the horizon, making the sea sparkle in its wake. "Simply beautiful."

"What's for breakfast?" asked Naruto crawling out of the yellow tent.

Kiyoshi turned to the arrogant kid "ramen" replied with a smirk

"Really?"

"No"

Naruto's joyful smile broke into pieces. "What's your problem?"

Kiyoshi decided to answer with a question of his own "Where was supper yesterday?"

"Oh that's why you're grumpy?" smirked the blonde, whiskers emphasizing his tease "Getting a bit senile aren't we?"

Kiyoshi turned away to rotate the chicken over the fire. "I wish..."

Hinata peeked her head out the tent, to find Naruto enraging Kiyoshi by poking him in the head and laughing. "Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed at her boyfriend with a displeased tone.

Naruto turned his head to meet his eyesight with hers "Heh" was the only thing he could say in reply to the girl.

"Come here" she said softly, hiding her head in the tent again.

"Ohh la la" thought Naruto smiling, and cautiously looked to the sides if anyone was paying attention to Hinata's invitation. Being satisfied that Kakashi was not around, and Kiyoshi was busy cooking the chicken, he casually started strolling back to the tent.

"Don't even think about it" warned Kiyoshi "talking is fine, but keep your pants on." Only then he realized the humor in the expression he just used.

Naruto scoffed "pervert..." and climbed into the tent after Hinata.

Kakashi was gathering wood to keep the fire going. "I wonder that'll happen to Kiyoshi when he puts his weights back on." releasing another chakra-string to collect several more branches a few meters away.

Kiyoshi got tired of burning himself so he took his gloves off for more control "My hands are roasting faster than this chicken is."

Naruto was about to kiss Hinata again, when she stopped him. "Naruto-kun..." he opened his eyes to find himself kissing her index-finger. "We need to talk"

He sat back "What about?"

Hinata didn't know how to put this in words that Naruto would understand "As soon as we get back to Konoha, we need to get Kiyoshi together with a girl."

Naruto widened his eyes "Umm... why?"

"I owe him," replied the girl, making the blonde boy before her really concerned. "He got you to see me."

Naruto eased his mind, but then asked, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that before he came, you barely even noticed me as a comrade, a friend. But deep inside I've always wanted to be more than that. He made you notice me, he opened you for me." explained the Hyuga, hoping that Naruto would understand.

Naruto smiled "I see." then took a peek outside at Kiyoshi "But he won't cooperate, he's being a jerk to me."

Hinata knew why, she had given deep thought to the way Kiyoshi treated Naruto. "Because he's match-making you with me."

Naruto sharply turned back to face her "By being an asshole?" asked the confused teen "Where's the logic in that?"

"There's logic behind his behavior, but it's poor and perhaps wrong. He's balancing your social life," explained the girl

Naruto though about it for a moment "I don't really underst..."

Hinata cut him off, "Just think about it, this whole match-making thing is in no doubt under his influence, right?" Naruto nodded "Seems like a fairly big step, from not noticing me to dating me, don't you think?"

"So?" asked Naruto not seeing where she was going with this information.

"So he wanted to soften the blow on you." explained Hinata "I love you very much, he figured you need something that acts as a counter-weight to keep you from doing something stupid. Nobody better than himself"

Naruto was confused "But I don't need a counter-weight"

"I know," replied Hinata "but I think he fails to grasp that concept."

Naruto shook this conversation off; it confused the hell out of him. "I don't get it, so whatever. But if this means so much to you, I'll help you."

"You better do your best, this guy went out of his way to help us, so let's return the favor." Naruto nodded, they made a quick kiss, and went outside to help Kiyoshi with breakfast.

After breakfast, the group resumed their mission. The four of them took up where they had left off the previous day, searching each island with care and caution. Many hidden caves, water enclosures and submerged openings lay all over their terrains, and they took every precaution to make sure none of them were missed.

Two days after they were done searching all of the islands on record, with no success of finding any traces of the ship, pirates, or treasure chests of any sort.

"I don't get it..." complained Naruto "Could we have skipped an island?"

Kiyoshi shook his head "No, it's more likely that we missed their hiding spot on one of the islands."

Kakashi was looking through their routes intensely "Even that's impossible, we searched every angle of each island we have on record."

Kiyoshi looked up at the masked ninja "Those are Konoha's records, and they haven't been updated in god knows how long."

Naruto was about to exclaim something at Kiyoshi for dishonoring Konoha, but Kakashi cut him off "I'm afraid you're right. The way I see it, it's the only possible explanation, no matter how far-fetched"

The longhaired blonde folded his arms "so, mister magic-man... what's the game plan now?"

Everyone turned to Kakashi. He replied, "you three keep searching, Naruto and Hinata will have to split up to cover my route."

Naruto was getting ticked off "What the hell are you going to be doing?" demanded the blonde.

"I'm going to go back to Inari's, to see if he has any updated records of island formations, or anything about the geography of this place." Kakashi looked down at the map, then at a nearby island, comparing the two "God... these maps ARE ancient."

With that said, Kakashi took off in the direction of Inari's residence. Shortly after a quickly formulated plan, the other three took off, each in their own direction.


	24. Chapter 23 Hangovers and Kunai

Chapter 23 

Three teens, three paths, each with a dangerous solo mission. If one of them were to be spotted by the enemy, they would all have a problem on their hands, as they were separated and vulnerable to attack.

"Is this smart Kiyoshi?" came Naruto's voice through a fuzzy transmission.

Kiyoshi knew that this was unsafe, but it had to be done or the mission would never be completed. "Don't ask me that question again"

Hinata was worried, them being separated meant that the mission was a reconnaissance one, Naruto isn't too good on sneaking around. "Naruto, please be careful." With the end of that transmission, they switched their communicators off and focused on the task at hand.

Kakashi had made a small pit stop on an island. After taking care of some business behind a tree, he stepped out with an expression of relief on his face. He drew his attention to a tree, the tree was demolished by lightning, but had a very thick and long piece of bark leftover, he got an idea. After several adjustments on the piece of bark, he set it on water, "Seems to float fine." thought the copy ninja. He set the left foot on top of it, took a wire from his pouch, made a loop and threw it around the front part of the bark as a way of steering, and concentrated a lot of chakra in his right foot. The heel of his right foot released a chaotic movement of chakra, he set it on the back of the bark, lowering his heel into the water and speeding off into the distance, cheering with joy.

Kiyoshi lowered himself into a wide and deep cave in the center of an island. Darkness, "Where's the damn ground, or water, anything will do." complained the teen. Eyes still not getting accustomed, darkness everywhere, rope starting to shred the skin, light too distant to show him anything.

"Shit!" thought Kiyoshi, releasing his hands from the rope, twisting it in between his feet and making hand seals. "Release!" said Kiyoshi, no effect. Lifting his hand, he created a glowing flame of chakra, tossing it to the side, doing the same thing in all directions. The balls of chakra fell down, past his chest, past his head, past his hair, falling and fading, not being stopped by the ground. "This is going to take a while..."

Naruto was extremely bored of sneaking around; he was now carelessly jumping all over the island in search of pirates.

Hinata was sneaking onto a beach from a blind spot, when something orange blinked in the corner of her eye. She sharply turned her head to the source of the bright color; it was an island, several kilometers away. She quickly turned her microphone on "Naruto!"

"Yeah?"

"Stop jumping around! I can see you from five kilometers away!" hissed the girl.

Naruto froze from Hinata's statement, "Really?"

"Yes"

Kiyoshi couldn't help but join into the conversation and burst out laughing "Naruto, you might as well write 'target practice' on that suit of yours. How can you possibly hope to sneak around in orange?"

"Shut up" pouted Mr. Careful

Kiyoshi finished laughing, gave off a sigh and turned his microphone off. "That damn guy's going to be the death of everyone and everything" sighted Kiyoshi and got back to climbing down the rope.

Ten minutes after, Kiyoshi was at the bottom, it was a squishy surface, and he could only hope that it wasn't alive. "Grrrr" came from behind him, Kiyoshi stopped exploring, and froze. He sharply turned his head to look in the direction of the rapid steps coming from the right,. "Hsss" came from the left, making him unsheathe his two trusty kodachis and go into a battle stance. "Hahahah" came from behind again "You can't kill us" said a low raspery voice.

"Who are you?" asked Kiyoshi.

Everything lit up; it was a huge hive, looking alive, blood covering the walls, pieces of unknown organs forming like vines and plants. He felt like he was in a stadium, a huge dome. Stared at the horrific scene in awe, everything was made out of blood and organ tissue, he was starting to get sick. Took a look around, to find himself surrounded by slick creatures, recognizable from his dreams, the scars on his neck and chest suddenly started feeling heavy and uncomfortable. "We're the ones you want to kill," replied a black creature with stripes, half-crawling, half-slithering its way to the teen.

Kiyoshi backed up; this thing was more horrific now than it was in the dark. A grin crept over the monster's eye-less face, revealing sharp teeth. "Get the fuck away from me!" screamed Kiyoshi

"Don't worry," said the creature, not slowing its pace. "We're not here to harm you, it would be like going after a bear-cub. Very poor sportsmanship."

"What do you want from me?" asked Kiyoshi calming down a bit.

A bony tail flung out of the monster's body, slamming the ground, and folding itself on the back of the beast. "We're here to warn you. Become strong, you'll need the power when you fight us."

"Fight? Why? I don't have anything against your kind!"

"You will" the light began to fade, everything turning black again.

Kiyoshi was extremely confused; he started throwing a series of questions at the thing before him "Why? What are you? What is this about?"

The creature turned its back to Kiyoshi; snickering "Ask your 'friend' Kakashi" was the last thing it said before all of Kiyoshi's sight was engulfed by darkness again.

"Kakashi? How do you know of him?" asked the teen. No response. "Hey!" screamed Kiyoshi making another flame of chakra throwing it up. The flame exploded lighting the cave, Kiyoshi looked around, there were no creatures, no blood, nobody around him, just an ordinary, dark, empty cave. "What the fuck was that about? Is Kakashi keeping something away from me?" reminisced Kiyoshi heading back to the rope and starting to climb back up.

Naruto was walking to the next island, observing his clothes, wandering what his new look should be, when Kiyoshi spoke through the intercom. "Everyone, it's getting late, let's regroup on checkpoint sixty seven again."

Naruto looked in the direction of the sun; he was surprised to find Kiyoshi being correct. The sun was setting and already starting to give off that red glow. "I'm on my way" he replied.

Hinata's voice followed "Me too."

They reassembled in ten minutes, setting up camp in the same spot as they did before. Building a fire, catching a rabbit, singing a song, and dancing a dance. This evening was purely a teen one, no adult supervision, Kiyoshi introduced the other two to alcohol. The drunk Naruto started punching a tree, not controlling his attacks, cutting up his knuckles.

"Naruto-kun!" yelled Hinata "Stop that!"

He turned around feeling woozy, "This is awesome, I feel invincible."

At that moment Kiyoshi realized why it was illegal for people under the age of 18 to drink. The drunk kid before him was the best explanation anyone could ever get. "Naruto, how much have you had?"

"Five shots"

"From now on, your limit is zero"

"What?!!" yelled Naruto charging at Kiyoshi, tripping over and falling asleep before hitting the ground.

Kiyoshi stood there in silence trying to get a grasp of Naruto's idiocy. Turning to Hinata he said, "I shouldn't have given him alcohol, I'm sorry." Hinata was giggling uncontrollably. "I shouldn't have given you any either." concluded the blonde and dragged Naruto into the tent, putting him to sleep.

"I'm fine," replied Hinata trying to find her balance.

Kiyoshi looked back and forth from Naruto to Hinata and thought "Tsunade is going to kill me."

Three hours had passed and Kiyoshi was keeping a lookout for the two drunks in the tent. "Those two can't drink for shit," mumbled Kiyoshi out of boredom. Suddenly remembering the beautiful phenomenon from the other night, he turned his attention to the waters that were supposed to be lit up. No luck, this night was a boring one, no jellyfish swarms were going to light up the sea for him.

He got a shockingly scary idea, ran back to the tent, and started to rummage through his bag. Taking the maps of the seabed of the area, he found what he was looking for. To find his theory possible sent chills down his spine, "They move under-water" whispered the blonde. "No wander we couldn't find them..."

Rustle

Kiyoshi sharply turned his head to the source of the noise, to find one half of his split mind caught in a genjutsu. "Shit!" screamed Kiyoshi rushing over to the tent "Wake up!" slapping the couple awake.

"Huh?" yawned Naruto "Morning already?"

"Get the fuck up!" yelled Kiyoshi dragging the two to their feet "We're under attack!"

Hinata snapped out of her dreams and got up quickly "What do we do?"

Kiyoshi examined the situation "We're surrounded, unknown amount of enemies, and you two have hangovers..." stated Kiyoshi and leaned over to the girl "What do you think?"

Naruto stepped in "Pirates?!!"

"I'm assuming so..." replied Kiyoshi. Four shadows appeared on each of the tent's walls, planting stickers on each wall, "And at least one ninja." The stickers lit up, the three in the tent panicked "Shit! Come here!" screamed Kiyoshi covering the other two with his trench coat.

The explosions came tearing everything to smithereens, to Hinata and Naruto's surprise, the trench coat provided absolute protection for them. As the smoke started clearing, Kiyoshi took the trench coat and put it back on himself. Hinata was worried and confused by the fact that Kiyoshi survived the brutal explosion "How did you..."

Kiyoshi cut her off "No time! Fight!"

With that said, the three jumped out of the smoke engaging the unknown enemy. Naruto and Hinata started using their combos, lifting eachother into midair, and flipping the enemies all over the place, into trees and rocks. Kiyoshi didn't feel like flying, he walked through the flying shurikens, swords swung by enemies, flipping the pirates into the way of their comrades' attacks, and dodging whenever he didn't have a human-shield.

This fight went on for ten minutes, the enemies just kept on coming, and somewhere hiding in the trees was at least one ninja, the ninja that created the explosive notes. The three teens were slowly getting surrounded, separated, enclosed, and not given any room to move.

Two speedy darts came flying from the above, piercing Naruto and Hinata's skins. "There!" screamed Kiyoshi disarming an enemy from a scimitar and tossing into the source of the darts. Nothing fell down, he missed. "Are you okay?" asked Kiyoshi turning to the couple.

Hinata's movement was getting sloppy, "We've been poisoned, and I'm starting to feel numb."

Several more darts came flying from different directions, all but one striking the couple, the other one entered Kiyoshi's neck. "Shit!" whispered Kiyoshi fending off from the pirates, seeing his comrades collapse in the corner of his sight. He was starting to feel sleepy "I'm coming!" screamed Kiyoshi unsheathing his kodachis, making two long deep slashes across his chest, inflicting pain to keep himself from going to sleep.

"Wow." said the ninja in the tree "That guy's not a kid, he's getting serious."

Another nodded in agreement "Inflicting pain on himself to stay awake. His dedication somewhat reminds me of yours, Hikari"

The girl turned and stabbed the ninja through the jaw with a kunai. "Don't talk to me."

"AAAAY" screamed the guy in pain.

"Right now you'll only be able to speak in vowels, don't make me take your voice away completely. Stop screaming" hissed the girl

The ninja squeezed his eyes shut and nodded slightly to avoid further pain.

The third ninja couldn't care less, he turned back to the battle and pulled a few more darts out dunking them in a small jar of god-knows-what.

Kiyoshi ran through the crowd, killing everyone in his way. Going low to evade a sword aimed for his neck, cutting the enemy's legs off at the knee, sliding past him. Running up a nearby tree, making rapid stabs into the heads of multiple enemies. Sheathed his sword in mid-air, landing between his unconscious teammates, picking them up and making a run for it, tackling everyone out of his way. Three more darts pierced his back, making him groan through his pain.

"That guy just won't give up," thought Hikari with folded arms, watching Kiyoshi run out of her sight, carrying the two teens. "That was fun."

Kiyoshi struggled through the numbing poison; his legs lost almost all feeling, eyes closing by themselves, mouth starting to feel dry. Running, panting, kunai and shurikens entering his back, "Aaah!" screams of pain could be heard from a kilometer away. Angry yells of the mob following him, various weapons sticking from the back, everything feels heavy, Night is getting darker, colder, quieter.

Thud

Silence.


	25. Chapter 24 Drugs and Women

Chapter 24 

Kakashi was somewhat disappointed by spotting Inari's residence. He was having so much fun surfing, now he had to get back to work.

Inari was feeling light, sitting in the sunlight, feeling bliss overcoming him, "Life's great" thought the pre-teen with his eyes closed, meditating. Feeling Kakashi's presence, he calmly turned his head and slowly opened his eyes, looking in the direction of the masked ninja, operating a piece of bark.

"Inari!" called Kakashi "How's the fishing?"

Inari smiled, turned his attention to several large containers of fish. "I can feel the life in the water," answered the kid with a calm spaced-out voice

Kakashi was starting to get worried, hoping Inari wasn't starting to lose his mind, "Are you alright? You didn't try marijuana, did you?"

The kid chuckled "No, I've been meditating a lot lately, starting to get the hang of it."

"Thank god..." sighed Kakashi wiping the worried face off. "Oh yeah, the reason I'm here." Inari turned his attention to the ninja. "We couldn't find the pirates, most likely due to the information in Konoha's library being outdated."

Inari smiled, he was amused by the idea "Unlikely, do you know how long it takes for islands to shift? I doubt that the information you have is too incorrect."

"Perhaps, but I want to check again. Maybe something was missing from our records."

Inari agreed to this, earth plates shifting takes a while, but missing information is the more common and therefore more likely explanation. "I'll show you something," said Inari getting up and starting back to his house, Kakashi followed.

"Whathuhh?" Kiyoshi was starting to come around, not able to move anything. One would think this would be due to the fact that he was tied up, but he couldn't move at all. Tried to speak, the only thing that came out was "hshuuh?" couldn't see properly, or lift his head up to see what was around him, couldn't even open his eyes.

"Don't bother," said a female voice, Hikari's voice.

"Whryoo" gibbered the teen, not able to ask a simple question. Not being drowsy or tired, just that all of his muscles failed to move on command.

There was a small pause, "What?"

"Eurgh" said Kiyoshi as a gesture of giving up, and bobbed is head into a different angle, leaving it in an awkward position.

He was expecting to continue seeing darkness, instead someone had slid his eyes open, and he could now see a blurry light moving back and forth, he came to the conclusion that it was a light bulb hanging above him. His sight started shifting downwards, he was now able to see a silhouette of a person, a wooden wall and a black door.

"You all right?" asked the voice. The next think he knew, the silhouette lifted its arm, and his vision started rapidly shifting from side to side, he could only assume that he was being slapped.

"Uhnuha!" yelled the teen, being irritated by the constant motion.

"What did you call me?"

"Huh?"

"I'll come later, when the drugs have worn off," said the silhouette, stepping out the door, closing, and locking it.

"Drugs..." thought Kiyoshi "No wonder I was affected, no matter how dense my muscles are, the blood could always carry poison into my brain." with that thought past him, he tried to get feeling of his body, even if little, he wished to feel it. Bit his tongue "nothing." eyes were starting to close by themselves, he didn't have enough control or feeling in his face, couldn't force them open, he was just hoping that he wasn't drooling.

Naruto and Hinata were on the floor, tied up, pirates sitting in chairs on top of them.

Naruto tried to force his eyes open, no success. "Damn pirates..." thought the blonde "Smell pretty bad too."

Hinata was still unconscious, hair lying wavy and flat on the wooden floor, spread out in all directions. The unclean hosts were watching her for a while now, would do something stupid too if not for their female leader. Hikari would castrate them if they were to get jiggy with Hinata.

Several hours had passed, Hikari walked into Kiyoshi's cell to find him able to hold his head up. "How are you doing?"

Kiyoshi weakly opened one of his eyes "Hey..." The girl was slightly older, tanned skin, violet hair, yellow-green eyes, and a loose black outfit.

The girl came up to the tied up teen. Sat on his lap, spreading her legs, pressing her body against his, and bringing her face to his. "What were you doing on that island?"

Kiyoshi thought that this would be a good chance to lie. "Camping trip."

"Wrong answer." replied the girl, reaching for her pocket.

Seeing a syringe in her hand as she took it out of her pocket, Kiyoshi groaned "Not again..."

"Don't worry, this is just a truth serum, it won't make you any more relaxed." she leaned her head over to his ear and whispered, "I don't like my men floppy" injecting the syringe into his neck.

"So..." said the girl tossing the needle in the garbage, and sitting up straight to converse with the exceedingly drugged teen. "What's your name?"

Kiyoshi's world was spinning, he felt as if he was talking to god. "Kiyoshi Inamotou" he whispered in reply.

"I'm Hikari, pleased to meet you. Now tell me what you were doing on that island."

"We were drinking and sleeping." replied Kiyoshi

The girl became displeased, so rephrased the question "What's your business around these parts?"

"Oh haha, why didn't you ask so?" Hikari was starting to get inpatient "There is this mission you see, and we were supposed to find these dudes to take this box away from them."

"What box?"

"A treasure chest!" yelled Kiyoshi and started laughing.

Hikari stared at him, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You tell me! What was that stuff you gave me? It's pretty funny..."

Hikari thought to herself "I didn't give him that much, why the hell is he so affected?"

"As I was saying, these dudes, what do you call em... you know, you're one of them..." snapped his fingers "Pirates! That's the word, pirates. They stole the treasure chest thing, and we're supposed to get it back."

Hikari looked at the door and back at the teen she was sitting on. "Tell me about yourself."

"I'm Kiyoshi Inamotou, my favorite colors are green and black, I like cherry pie..." Kiyoshi kept listing all sorts of his traits, Hikari sitting on him, listening intensely to his deepest secrets.

Ten minutes into her 'research', the door burst open with five men storming inside. "Hikari!" screamed one of them "Why are you keeping this fucking slime alive?!!"

Hikari's face was being changed into a pissed off expression. She slowly got up, with Kiyoshi still happily chattering about his likes and dislikes. "Katsuo... can't you see that I'm busy?"

"Screw your busy, this asshole killed twenty seven of us and injured forty nine!" yelled the muscular pirate on the verge of ripping Kiyoshi's head off.

Hikari closed her eyes, trying to contain her anger. "That's mostly because of your recklessness and/or incompetence" replied the girl in the face of a guy who is four times bigger than she is.

"I'm going to kill you!!!" screamed the pirate swinging his massive arm, aimed for the girl's face.

"Bad move" whispered the girl, disappearing on the fist's impact, and reappearing on it.

The man's expression changed into something that slightly resembled fear, but mostly terror. She had promised the crew to never use her powers against them; he knew he wouldn't live past what she was about to do.

She lifted her palm, particles of sand and dirt from all over the room started to gather into a small ball floating in her hand. After flexing her thumb, pinky and index fingers, the ball started smoking, eventually glowing and melting completely into a floating ball of lava.

The petrified pirate stared up at her, and retracted his arm to make her fall. As she was falling, she shoved the small ball of lava into his face, melting away skin, fat, muscle, bone and eventually releasing it to burn through the brain. The pirate fell over, twitching violently, an after-effect of death.

She turned to the others "Anyone else want to say anything?"

The rest of the crew ran out screaming, slamming the door shut behind them. "Jack offs..." scoffed Hikari, then turned to the happy and unaware Kiyoshi, talking his heart out. She chuckled and came back to sit on his lap.

Kiyoshi was starting to come around from the various poisons that lurked in his blood. Hikari, seeing that he was coming back to normal, reached for another dose of the foul substance. "No, wait" spoke Kiyoshi weakly, slowly rotating his head, as if being half-asleep or having a really bad hangover. "Don't..."

"And why not?" smiled the girl

Kiyoshi couldn't think straight; the only words that he could come up with were "Why are you doing this?"

But to Hikari, the question seemed to be a fair one. She leaned over and whispered in his ear "I want you."

Kiyoshi opened his eyes, snapped out of his hallucinations and daydreams "What?"

Hikari let off a seductive smile, nibbling his lip and reaching for a dose of some sort of poison in her pouch. Kiyoshi tried to move his head away "stop."

"Why would I?"

"Because there isn't any meaning to what's happening if I'm continuously drugged. It's like making out with a bag of sand."

Hikari backed off, looked at the syringe and set it aside "You're right." she agreed looking into his eyes "So how about it? Want to join my crew?"

Kiyoshi couldn't think straight "Life keeps flinging bricks in my face."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Kiyoshi's sight and mind were almost perfectly clear now; he looked down and up, observing the girl sitting on him. "Damn, you're hot."

"Is that a yes?" asked Hikari lifting an eyebrow, smirking.

Kiyoshi bobbed his head back and sighed, "I'm afraid not."

"What?"

"I'll put it this way. What do you find attractive about me?" asked the tied up teen

"The fact that you're nothing what you look like. You look like death, yet you're something completely different."

"You're wrong there." corrected Kiyoshi

"No I'm not"

"I'm a big mess of a human being," explained Kiyoshi "You won't like me."

Hikari climbed off of him, "You don't even want to try?"

"God, she's beautiful," thought the teen observing her, "Life just keeps on bitchslapping me."

"Oh I do." replied Kiyoshi. Hikari smiled, started advancing again, he carried on "it's just that I can't try."

The girl was pissed off, took the syringe and injected it into his neck, "Your loss. I'm leaving you; nobody's going to be around to protect you from the scum of this ship. They'll beat you to a pulp."

Kiyoshi started to feel numb again, losing the feeling of his neck, shoulders, arms, torso, and legs. "Shit" he said as his head fell back, neck unable to hold it in place. The girl left the room in the corner of his eye, "No, wait!" it was too late, she was gone.

The girl walked down the hallway, looking pissed off, everyone getting out of her way. The next thing she felt was a cold sensation in the corner of her eye, this was the first tear that she ever shed on the ship. "What the fuck is wrong with me? He's just a guy!" thought Hikari walking past metal doors and unfriendly faces, sniffing the hurt away, one tear at a time.

Kiyoshi sat there, leaning his head back. "Ouch" was his only thought at the moment. "Why do I fall in love with the most unsanitary girls?"

In the meanwhile Naruto was flipping around like a ringworm, took three people to hold him down. Hinata was wide-awake and thinking of a way out of the mess they were in.

Several minutes later, Kiyoshi's chamber was filled to the brink with the mob that was chasing him the other night. "You're going to pay for all of our comrades that you have killed," said one, punching him in the stomach.


	26. Chapter 25 Confessions and Stabby Things

Chapter 25 

Kiyoshi couldn't feel any pain, he was numb all over. Seconds later, the whole crew started using him as a punching bag. All he could do is sit there and think about what he did to Hikari. "Talk about my problems, makes me selfish. Keep them secret, makes me an asshole," thought the teen.

One of the pirates said, "Once Hikari comes, everyone scram, she's protecting this fool."

Kiyoshi replied "don't bother, she wants me to suffer now. Perhaps I should"

"Hikari doesn't care? That makes it so much better." smiled the pirate throwing a punch in Kiyoshi's face.

At that moment, the girl walked in with a box of tissues to see a room full of people beating on the tied up Kiyoshi. No matter how much she didn't want to, she got extremely pissed off, "Get the fuck away from him!" she screamed picking one of them up by the leg and swinging him around into the doorframe.

Everyone fell silent, no more cheering for Kiyoshi's blood, no more teasing laughter or threats going in his direction. Everyone's attention was turned to the extremely confused and pissed off girl standing in the doorway. Kiyoshi still couldn't lift his head up to see what happened "Why did you stop beating me?"

"Everybody out!" screamed Hikari pointing out the door. All the pirates rushed out of the room, dragging the half-dead one out as well.

Hinata was lying on the hard floor, pretending to be asleep, plan set up and ready for action. Naruto was able to get a message she sent to him through a genjutsu, it was almost time to get to work. The plan would have to be executed quickly and flawlessly in order for it to work.

Naruto snapped into action, flinging his tied up body across the room, screaming like a maniac. Everyone in the room rushed over to sedate him, but he wouldn't have it their way, he kept moving and giving them all a hard time. In the meanwhile, Hinata was cutting through the ropes with chakra released from her hand.

Ropes snapped, she quietly got up; avoiding being spotted, sneaked up on a pirate and took his sword out. Flinging the sword in Naruto's direction, she successfully cut his ropes; the ropes fell to the ground releasing the menace with spiky hair. "Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" screamed Naruto, releasing fifty clones, filling the room to the brink.

The pirates froze, shocked by what just happened, in a blink of an eye, they were outnumbered five to one by kids in orange suits, it was an eyesore all by itself, but then the punching and kicking started. In a matter of seconds, they were tied up, gagged and stuffed into a closet.

Thirty-eight of the clones vanished, the remaining twelve transformed into ten pirates and two tied up kids, nobody would suspect anything. The couple disguised themselves as two pirates and started wandering the ship, searching for Kiyoshi.

"Do you enjoy hurting girls' feelings?" asked Hikari on the verge of tears.

"No."

She came over to him, sat down and started treating his wounds. When she lifted his head up, and put it on a pillow, he was able to see the hurt in her eyes. She had concern for him, it was evident that there were many more feelings other than those of lust that she had for him. She spoke "Why don't you like me?"

Kiyoshi squeezed his eyes shut "I do, might even love you."

Her voice became weepy "Then why won't you join me? We could have so much more than a relationship."

"Life's unfair, this love's not meant to be." replied the blonde, heart ripping to shreds.

"But why not?!!" at that moment she came by a strange fact, the muscle in his arm was hard, "Are you numb?"

"Yes"

She couldn't take the risk; she took a kunai from her pouch and stabbed him in the arm. No reaction came, he really was numb, but his muscles were as tense as someone with an excessive dose of adrenaline. "What are you?" asked the girl with a terrified face.

"I'm different than any other human, my muscle structure is more dense, and therefore I'm dangerous for anyone to be around," explained Kiyoshi

Hikari thought, "Good thing these are my chakra ropes, anything else he would have been able to rip apart like a gummy worm."

"Do you see why I can't have a relationship?"

"That doesn't mean anything!" yelled the girl

"Really? Have you noticed the fact that I weigh 1100 pounds? Or the fact that I'm too strong for my own good? How about the fact that I'm not looking for a girlfriend? I have enough troubles as it is!" exclaimed the tied up teen. ⌠I made a pact with myself long ago, I swore to never date anyone again." Then he leaned his head over to her ear, whispering the last reason, making the girl terrified. Hikari ran out of the room, weeping. "I'm a freaking coward... afraid of life," whispered Kiyoshi, dropping his head back again.

Rushing past pirates, running at her top speed, hiding her face so that the crew doesn't see the tears. Runs into her room, slamming the metal door behind her. Everyone gathers around her door, confused by her behavior.

"Does this mean we can kill that kid?" asked one of the pirates

Everyone turned to him with uneasy expressions. One of them replied, "Don't know about you guys, but I'll stay away from this whole ordeal, who knows what she'll do to us next?"

A third stepped into the conversation "Yeah, she's as unpredictable as the weather."

"Good thing we're underwater!" exclaimed a fourth, everyone gave off a stupid laugh and dispersed all over the ship, carrying on with their assigned jobs.

Kiyoshi was sitting there, reminiscing everything that's happened to him recently. His heart felt heavy, hard to breathe, "Am I really not meant to be human? Just a weapon?" thought the blonde, recalling the countless lives that he's taken in his past. "Fuck life, I can be whatever the fuck I want to be!" yelled Kiyoshi snapping out of depression. "I just hope she forgives me. I'd really love to get to know her better."

Inari had led Kakashi into the basement of his house, which was very conveniently transformed into a huge library.

"Holy mother of fuck..." thought Kakashi looking around the room in awe.

Inari decided to introduce him his grandfather's collection, "You'll find all the information you need in here. Two thirds of these books are on the geographical features of this world."

"Why do you have this here?" asked Kakashi not able to grasp the fact that a pre-teen has his own library.

"Come one Kakashi, you protected my grandfather, you know very well that he is a bridge builder." explained the kid.

"Oh yeah, by the way, where is the old dog, and the lady?" asked Kakashi

"After the bridge was completed, our economy improved really well, his reputation rose fairly quickly too. Right now he's in the Star country, building a bridge over some sort of chasm or something, I'm not sure. Mom went along with him to keep him out of trouble." explained Inari

Kakashi's impression of the place eased, "A bridge builder definitely needs information on sea-beds and geographical features. What else do you have here?"

"Oh you know, information on architecture, building materials, history books." smirked Inari "Secret stash..."

Kakashi wiped his face off, but under his mask lurked a smile. Casually, he looked around "so... what's in the secret stash of yours?" he asked, trying to not look too excited.

Inari laughed, "I'm just kidding, I just wanted to see your reaction."

Kakashi sighed; he was outsmarted by a pre-teen. "Oh well, let's get started. We have to compare my documents to those of your grandfather's."

Several hours had passed, and the only things Kakashi was able to find were new-grown trees, several collapsed rock formations, and tide lines. The tide lines caught his attention, he didn't pay any attention to them before, but there was one thing that caught his attention.

"Hey Inari, take a look at this island." handing the map over.

Inari observed it, a big island with a lake in the center, "So?"

"Look at the tide lines." Kakashi pointed out

"Yeah, this is strange, what is this?" The tide lines seemed to exist on the lake too, something that shouldn't happen unless it's a very big body of water.

"Do you have the schematics of the sea-bed in that area?" asked the copy ninja.

Inari walked over to a shelf, dragging his index finger across a row of big, dusty books. "Here we go, 'sea-beds of the water country,'" said Inari finding it, taking it out and dropping it on the table, raising a big dust-cloud.

Kakashi was glad he had a mask on, or he would have definitely choked on the dust. Opened the book, skipped through sections, "Here it is." he finally said finding the map of the island and its seabed. After a short observation he found a rather wide underwater canal connecting the lake, to the sea. "That explains it."

Inari glanced at it, "oh yeah, there are many canals all over the place in our waters."

An Idea popped into Kakashi's head, he started to rummage through maps of the seabed. "Shit!" exclaimed Kakashi after finding his theory to be correct.

"What?" asked Inari

"They move under-water," whispered Kakashi with a serious look.

"What? Impossible!" yelled Inari. Kakashi gave him several maps, all showing dugout pathways in the sea-bed. "Wow... It's amazing that nobody's spotted this yet"

Kakashi got up "Inari, I'll need your help with this, do you feel like being a hero?"

Inari smiled "Time pay Naruto back."

The two of them left, rushing back to Kakashi's team, running on water, and lifting sparkling drops of water behind them.

Kiyoshi was sitting in the room, with no signs of the poison losing their effect. Not caring about the ropes or the fact that he couldn't move anything, all he did was think about the girl who saved him several times in the previous 24 hours. The more he thought about her, the deeper feelings brewed.

Upon hearing footsteps, he lazily rolled his head over sideways to look at the door. "Anyone want to throw another punch at me?"

Two pirates walked in, smiling "Hey Kiyoshi" said one of them.

"Do I know you?" asked Kiyoshi suspiciously observing the pirate, the voice was familiar, but he wasn't in the right mood to try and recall whose it was.

"I could only hope you still do after all that drugging you took." said Naruto changing back to his original form, Hinata did the same. "Do I have to save you every time?" pulling a kunai out and attempting to cut the rope.

"Don't bother trying to cut it Naruto-kun," said hinata kneeling down and starting to untie Kiyoshi "It's a chakra rope, made of several hundred chakra strings."

Kiyoshi looked up "Yeah, why else would I still be here?"

"You look like shit Kiyoshi" started Naruto

"Yeah, my buddies accidentally mistook me for a punching-bag" replied the sedated blonde.

Hinata untied the final knot "There." The ropes loosened and fell apart; Kiyoshi fell down, creating a crater in the floor on impact.

"Whoa! I thought you left your weights back at Inari's." said Naruto

"I lied." replied the teen standing up and brushing himself off.

The three disguised themselves and found an unoccupied room. Kiyoshi, still not having a very strong feeling of his body, started speaking "We can't take on them by ourselves." Naruto was about say something, probably contradict him, but Kiyoshi cut him off "We need to wait for Kakashi, with his help we will be able to complete this mission."

Hinata nodded in approval. Naruto folded his arms, "I could take them on, I can clone myself and beat each one of them down"

"That is true, but remember, we're on their turf, so we don't know what other secrets they hide on this ship, plus they have those three ninja. They may have a hidden weapon, we can't take the risk of engaging them by ourselves."

"Fine..." pouted Naruto

Kakashi and Inari, running side by side, hands stretched out, long trail of disturbed water following them.

Kakashi attempted to contact his team "Anyone there? Naruto, please answer!" nothing but fuzz, no voices in the background. "Damn. Inari, we're going to have to play this by chance, don't separate from me.

Inari nodded and they quickened their pace.

Hikari took her hurt out on the refrigerator. Lying there, on the bed, surrounded by empty chip-bags that suffered her feeding frenzy. Opening another bag, she dug in, trying to eat her sorrows away. "Comfort food my ass, this is as uncomfortable as it gets." whispered the broken up girl, getting up from the crumbs on the bed, brushing them off and lying back on it, to find that there is a crumb in her shirt that's irritating her.

Thoughts are nasty things at moments like these, it's best to just stop thinking completely and listen to some music, but she couldn't stop, couldn't stop thinking about the tied up boy a few rooms away from her. "Why won't he let me get close?" thought the girl, turning over to her side, "He won't let me into his life. But why not?" rolled over onto her back again "Of course! He doesn't know me that well." she smiled "I got to get him to know me, accept me, and get him to love me without worrying about hurting me. Now how can I accomplish that?"

Her thoughts were running wild now, all the possible things that she could do to him, genjutsu, torture, "No!" exclaimed Hikari "I want him to love me, to do that I have to take it a step at a time. First I'll join his side, I'll show him that I'm strong and worthy of his love, and it'll work out. He already confessed to me, he's just too afraid to carry out a relationship." She smiled and decided to go pay him a visit.

She walked in on Naruto's clone disguised as Kiyoshi tied to a chair. "Kiyoshi-kun, I want to make a proposition" said the girl pulling up a chair. Kiyoshi's impostor gave off an worried smile. "Wait a second..." she said leaning in to look at his eyes "You're not Kiyoshi, he has different eyes!" exclaimed the girl, punching the clone, making it disappear.

Naruto was sitting there, playing rock-paper-scissors with a clone, when the last of the Kiyoshi impostor's memories came to him. "Guys... we've been found out"

Kiyoshi and Hinata sharply turned their heads to look at the spiky haired teen. "Nobody's sounding the alarm... Who found out?"

"A girl."

Kiyoshi smiled "Hikari! She forgave me!"

Hinata and Naruto turned to look at Kiyoshi in confusion. "Did we miss something?" asked Hinata

"None of your business" replied the happy teen "Let's get to the deck of this ship." The other two nodded and followed him to the exit.

Hikari was worried; she didn't want anyone to find out about the escape before she found Kiyoshi. She was running to the room containing the other two prisoners, in hopes of finding Kiyoshi trying to free them. She walked in on several pirates and two tied up teens on the floor. She tossed a kunai at one of the pirates, who disappeared in a cloud of smoke. After killing the rest of the clones in two moves she rushed to the deck, once again in hopes of reaching Kiyoshi before he escaped.

Naruto received the clones' memories, "Whoa, that girl is strong, she has techniques that I haven't seen before."

"As is expected from the captain of a pirate ship." replied Kiyoshi, getting shocked expressions from his two comrades

They reached the door with a valve, the exit. Kiyoshi put his hands on the valve getting ready to open the door "Take a deep breath"

"Why?" asked Naruto

"We're about to get flooded"

"What?!! Where in the hell are we?!!"

Kiyoshi didn't wait to explain everything to Naruto, and started rotating the valve. Everyone took a deep breath as a harsh stream of water rushed in. The three of them fought to keep from getting carried away by the current, and were eventually on the outside, swimming towards the surface.

There was a panic in the control room. "We're being flooded!" screamed one "All ships to the surface!" pulling various levers and twisting valves.

Hikari heard the alarms, "Damn, their escape has been spotted, I need to find them before anyone else." thought the girl running up the stairs, quickening her pace.

The three were swimming up to the surface, not looking down, when the ship below them started floating up, eventually catching up to them and pushing them along with it to the surface. Once the surface was broken, Kiyoshi held his hand to his eyes to shield them from the sunlight. Taking a look around, he found himself on a strange ship, surrounded by four others just like it. "This is not going to end nicely..." said Kiyoshi preparing to activate his blood-limit.

Hinata stopped him "Don't! The drugs you received, if they go into the eyes, they'll make you go blind." Kiyoshi nodded in agreement.

The pirates were all getting ready to storm the deck of the ship, to find the people who opened the valve.

Hikari was rushing up the stairs, light visible at the end of them. She ran out into the sunlight, blocking it with her hand, trying to get accustomed to it. She turned to find Kiyoshi on the opposite side of the ship, "Kiyoshi!" yelled the girl with tears, sprinting towards him.

Naruto and Hinata went into battle-stances, preparing to fight a powerful enemy. Kiyoshi signaled them to back off. In confusion, the two of them loosened, and stood up looking at him. "Hikari!" yelled Kiyoshi back to the girl on the opposite side of the ship, running to her.

They met in the middle; she jumped into his arms, crying. He set her down, and she started "I'm tired of this pirate crap, they have no manners, etiquette or life. I want to be with you."

"But what about..."

She cut him off "I don't care, we'll work it out somehow, I want to get to know you, and I want you to love me."

There was a silence, the rest was said with the eyes, they looked deeply into each other's as tears of joy fell, smiling.

Naruto's arm was over Hinata's shoulder, they were looking in awe at Kiyoshi's newfound love.

Nothing happened for a minute, Kiyoshi was holding Hikari in his arms, wishing to never have to let her go. She was the only one who he felt understood him, his actions, his sorrows, and his disabilities.

Beautiful day, warm sun, soft sea breeze, and love in the air.


	27. Chapter 26 Naruto's Reasoning

Chapter 26 

The four teens were standing on enemy territory, in danger, but in happiness nevertheless.

"We have to get out of here." eventually stated Hikari

Kiyoshi nodded and the four of them darted off the ship. Kiyoshi's movement still sloppy, and slowed chakra movement didn't help him with walking on water, especially when he weighed 1100 pounds. "Shit..." said the blonde as each of his steps was slightly sinking underwater.

The four of them were running to a nearby island, as Hikari indicated. "I know a good hiding spot, nobody knows of it but me. I used to go there when I got annoyed by those slobs."

The five ships behind them were starting to look over-crowded, countless pirates on the wooden deck were searching the horizons for the runaway prisoners. Eventually they spotted four figures running towards an island, a kilometer away, and set their course after them.

The two couples were underwater, keeping their faces above surface for air, Kiyoshi having more trouble than the rest. "I'm Hikari," said the girl

"This is Hinata and Naruto" Kiyoshi introduced his two teammates. "Naruto, are your clones luring the pirates away?"

"I'm assuming so, I told them to go in the opposite direction, I can only assume that they haven't been caught yet, or I would know." replied the spiky-haired boy.

Hinata lifted her head to see if the pirates fell for the bait. The five ships were now traveling in the opposite direction, "It worked."

They got up, water dripping from their clothes. Naruto shuddered from the combination of wet clothes and the cool wind, "Uhh... May I swim? The water seems warmer than the air."

"Suit yourself, but only as long as you can keep up," replied Hikari. "Everyone, follow me!"

The group ran towards Hikari's hideout, looking back every now and then to check whether they were followed. Naruto eventually got tired from swimming and exclaimed, "Stop!"

The other three teens turned to look down at him, "What is it?" asked Kiyoshi

"I'm tired, I won't be able to keep up much longer"

"Then get out of the water," suggested Hinata

"But it's cold in the air!" complained Naruto

Hikari chuckled and dragged the shivering blonde out of the water. "Hang on," and started rotating her wrist, palm facing upwards.

Naruto wrapped his hands around himself and observed Hikari's motions "What are you going to do?"

"Hang on" she looked at the other two "Do either of you two use wind techniques?"

Kiyoshi stepped up "I do"

"Good, create a strong gust of wind and aim it at Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened "Oh god... What are you going to do to me?" asked the kid, backing away.

The air around Hikari's hand was starting to rapidly heat up, "Now Kiyoshi!" Kiyoshi lifted his palm at Naruto, making all the air around him fly through Hikari's heat, and at the blonde. The girl laughed "How's this for a blow-drier?"

Naruto struggled against the strong, hot wind, covering his face from it. Seconds later the wind stopped, making the blonde lose balance and fall down towards them.

The other three burst out laughing at Naruto's hairdo. Kiyoshi took a camera out of nowhere and made a snapshot of Naruto's afro-like hairstyle.

"Gah! Where did you get that?!!" Screamed Naruto, pointing his index finger at Kiyoshi's camera.

"Why should I tell you? So that you can find it and dispose of it?" teased Kiyoshi, setting the focus up for another shot.

"Give me that!" yelled Naruto, charging at Kiyoshi. As he tackled his comrade, the camera went off and took an extreme close-up shot of Naruto's enraged face.

"Don't make me drown you." grunted Kiyoshi, struggling with Naruto for the camera, rolling on the water's surface, getting wet again.

Hinata watched the epic struggle in silence for half a minute. Then turned to Hikari who was also watching the wrestling match. "Hikari..." started Hinata.

"Hm?" Replied Hikari turning to face the girl.

"What exactly happened between you and Kiyoshi-kun?"

Hikari smiled at the mentioning of the subject. "I can't say whether or not it was love at first sight, but something about him snapped me. I got a strong grasp on the fact that I want to get to know him more, and create a relationship. Who knows, could be a crush, could be lust, but every now and then it's something beyond words, something deeper than a relationship."

Hinata smiled, she could relate. "What do you like about him?"

Hikari thought about it "For the most part, he's mysterious." Hinata closed her eyes and shook her head, thinking that this was just a simple crush. "Fine, I'll tell you" smirked the violet-haired girl "He looks dangerous, but he's soft, he cares about people." started the girl, recalling the moment back when she saw him carrying his two friends away, through all the pain and sedatives.

Hinata's impression of this conversation became better; Hikari might have hit on something here. "And?"

"He's nothing like he seems, you'd think that he's a maniac, but his sanity is straighter than any of the pirates I've had to deal with." Hinata nodded for Hikari to carry on, "He's mature, he's not some little kid trying to look cool, and he has etiquette."

Hinata was impressed by Hikari's observation, "You really do like him, I can tell from your face, this isn't just a crush"

Hikari slightly blushed, and carried on "The list goes on. But the reason I want to be with him is because of his faults."

"Faults?" Hinata was confused, she had never heard of anyone falling in love with a person through his or her faults.

Hikari opened her eyes "He drinks, not because of addiction. He had other problems, personal stuff that I was able to get out of him." Hinata never noticed Kiyoshi's problems; he always hid them behind his smile. "He's in a lot of pain." concluded Hikari, smile no longer a happy one, but more sympathetic. "That's why I want to be with him, so that he doesn't face it all by himself."

"You're a good person, you need each other." replied Hinata, turning to look at the two boys, who were done fighting and were now making chakra needles, shooting them at fish in the water. "Let's go to your hideout."

With that, the group carried on with their trip to Hikari's shelter.

Kakashi and Inari were pumping sweat, running, when they noticed several ships on the horizon.

"There they are, I hope they didn't catch my team," said Kakashi, taking out his mini-radar monitor.

"Let's get closer," suggested Inari

"Ok, but we're going to have to be careful to not be noticed. Let's sneak up through that Island, should be easier to conceal ourselves within the trees." replied Kakashi, and the two of them darted towards the island.

"Does the radar show anything?" asked Inari on arrival.

Kakashi looked at it, "Nothing, they're not on these ships."

The kid let off a sigh "Thank god."

The four teens had already reached their destination; it was a cave that resembled somewhat of a bunker.

"How's this hidden? If anything, it's screaming out to be shot at!" exclaimed Naruto

"Take a couple of steps back," replied Hikari, the blonde complied.

Taking the two steps back, Naruto looked at the bunker again, to find himself alone, in front of a small mountain's wall. "Where did it go?!!" screamed Naruto, then looked for his comrades and continued screaming, "More importantly, where did you go?!!" A hand appeared in front of him and dragged him closer to the mountainside. Upon breaking the invisible barrier, Naruto saw his teammates and the cave again. "Wow, nice trick."

Kiyoshi compared this jutsu to the one that his mentor, Akane, used to conceal and protect her town. "All it does is refracts light from a different part of the mountain, and brings it here. So what you saw outside the barrier was that wall over there." explained Hikari, pointing at a mountain wall, ten meters away. "Light techniques?" asked Kiyoshi "You live up to your name."

"Thanks." blushed Hikari

Kiyoshi stepped in and out of the barrier, observing the craftsmanship of the jutsu "This is very nicely executed. Would you mind if I tried something?" The girl nodded. Kiyoshi put his hand together, went through several seals and slammed one of the seals into the ground at the edge of the barrier, repeating the process four more times. Then went inside, and made a shuriken-like drawing on the ground, "Everyone, step on each point of my Quadra gram." They put their feet together, stepping on the edges of his drawing, and he went through the last series of seals, releasing energy into the Quadra gram.

Everyone felt a shockwave; Hikari got startled "What did you do?"

"I just perfected your technique, now the only people who will see the entrance will be the four of us. Even if someone steps into the barrier, they won't see the entrance to your hideout."

"Fine with me, but don't you have another teammate? What's his name... Kakashi?" asked Hikari

Naruto remembered his one time mentor "Oh yeah... by the way, how do you know of him?"

"Kiyoshi spilled everything out, once I drugged him." smirked Hikari

Kiyoshi recalled himself being tied up and drugged "If this relationship is going to work, no more drugging me. Alright?"

Hikari smiled, putting the syringe back in her pouch "Sure thing." she replied, trying to look casual

Hinata was tired from the day's events; the escape, swim and mental tension took a lot out of her. "Let's go inside, I want to take a nap."

Naruto stepped up, all fidgety "Yes, I want to take a nap as well." cautiously looking back and forth at the other three teens

"No funny stuff Naruto." warned Kiyoshi

Naruto froze, and attempted to keep his face straight, as if trying to prove that he wasn't just caught. "I don't know what you mean..."

The four walked in, finding that the inside was nothing like what they had imagined. If they didn't know better, they would call it a cozy house. A thick wall, at Kiyoshi's wish, separated Naruto and Hinata's rooms.

Hinata fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed, dreaming of the day she confessed her love. Naruto was eagerly trying to think of a way to be alone with Hinata, when Kiyoshi walked in on him.

"What is it?" asked the spiky-haired blonde. Kiyoshi walked up to Naruto's bed and lay down beside him. "Hey, what are you doing?!! I don't swing that way!"

"Is sex all you have on your mind lately?" asked Kiyoshi, "Chill out pepper man, I'm only here to talk, not molest."

Naruto couldn't understand how Kiyoshi could keep a straight face when talking about anything sex-related. "You're messed up in the head, you know that?"

"Don't say the obvious, it makes you look like more of an idiot than you really are." replied Kiyoshi to Naruto's poorly formulated insult. "You want to get Hinata to yourself?"

Naruto laid down as well and said "Yes."

"What? Yes? That's all you've got to say?" Commented the longhaired blonde on Naruto's sorry answer.

"What else can I say?" complained Naruto

Kiyoshi shook his head "Naruto, if you love her, you have to let her know. You can't let her know that you love her with a single word like 'yes'. You have to work on your language skills."

Naruto couldn't take this "What would you say?!!"

Kiyoshi thought about it, he wouldn't be able to say something love-proving to Hinata, so he imagined admitting it to Hikari. "Hikari... I don't know how to begin telling you what I feel. I guess the first thing I should emphasize is my gratitude, I am thankful that we crossed paths, I am glad that I didn't get away from the pirates back on that island, and I am grateful that you came and saved me from the darkness."

Naruto started to feel like he was in a cheesy love scene of a romantic movie. But that last word caught his attention, making him think "Darkness?"

"You saved me from my fears..."

"Fears?" thought the confused whisker-boy, finding the word quite interesting coming from the mouth of the supposedly fearless killer.

"My fear of life, you make me want to live, want to embrace life, embrace you. You're my reason to live, you are my new life, and I want to live you to the fullest." finished Kiyoshi

"Uhh..." Naruto was speechless, the long-believed cheery person was now found out to have been a sorry excuse for a living being. "What the hell was that?"

Kiyoshi opened his eyes "Apparently I need work with my speech craft too." replied the blonde to the unimpressed Naruto "That's besides the point, the point is, a simple 'Yes' can't possibly emphasize your love. You have to try to prove it with every word and action that you execute."

Naruto had already given up on being stubborn and started understanding what Kiyoshi meant, "I see."

"Alight, you think about that when I leave. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is the Kyubi" carried on Kiyoshi, this time with the absence of the soft happiness and cheer in his voice.

Naruto became uneasy "I don't th..."

Kiyoshi cut him off "That's right, you don't think. How in the hell are you going to make the relationship with Hinata work if you keep something as big as the Kyubi a secret?"

Naruto was so much into the latest events that he forgot all about the canine demon inside him. He found Kiyoshi to be correct, Hinata had the right to know about the fox, he owed her that much. Furthermore, the rest of the village knew about him, if he wouldn't tell her, she would eventually find out the hard way; from her father. Telling her would be the more humane and smart thing to do, let her make the choice on her own, without any pressure from the people around her. "I agree with you, but what if we're wrong?"

Kiyoshi smiled "Now you're thinking. You're right, this is a delicate situation, keeping a secret from her is the worst thing to do, but it's best to analyze the situation from every possible angle. Unfortunately, the closest person to being wise that we have at our disposal is Kakashi, and he's not around, so we have to do this on our own. Perhaps Hikari can help push you in the right direction?"

Naruto nodded "Thanks Kiyoshi, you're a true friend."

Kiyoshi got up to leave, but stopped. "Naruto..." said Kiyosh, getting the teen's attention "You're not stupid, and you're not thoughtless."

Naruto's expression changed into confusion again "I can't tell if what you just said is a good thing or not."

"Your thoughts are just all over the place, I was as careless and stupid as you at one point." continued Kiyoshi, then reached inside his vest "This is what helped me, and as you can see, the results are fantastic." taking out a hard-leather covered notebook, and tossing it to Naruto.

"What's this?" asked Naruto, opening the notebook, and going through the blank pages.

"It's another present." smiled Kiyoshi "The human mind is different from that of an animal's, not because we're smarter, but because we can find the connection between causes and effects. This idea stretches out into connecting simple thoughts, such as seeing the connection between a river and rain."

"So how is this supposed to help?"

"Have you ever played chess?"

Naruto recalled a couple of matches that he had with Shikamaru "Yeah, with Shikamaru, he beat me very quickly, the guy is a genius."

"Perhaps, but any genius can be surpassed by hard work."

Naruto felt a fine resemblance between the statement and what Lee went through to overthrow Neji. "Continue."

"The reason Shikamaru beat you is because he can easily see the connection of every move to the consequence of it. Not only that, but he is also able to think ahead, and therefore knowing the consequences of several turns ahead, thus he is able to create a tactic, plan of battle. To say it simply, the longer the chain of connections that you can make, the clearer your thinking becomes, and the smarter you become."

Naruto was shocked by Kiyoshi's reasoning, he never actually thought about overcoming Shikamaru's tactical skills, they felt so overwhelming that it seemed to be impossible for anyone to surpass him. "I think I know where you're going with this," replied Naruto

"From now on, you will write your thoughts out. If you can secure your current thoughts, you will be able to expand them into the deeper ones. The rest is up to your dedication to better yourself for Hinata."

Naruto smiled at the mentioning of her name. "I'll do my best to better myself. I know that I'm not much of a prize, but I'll eventually be worthy of her love."

Kiyoshi walked out of the room smiling "He finally gets it."


	28. Chapter 27 Another Lost Soul

Chapter 27 

Kakashi and Inari were wandering around, looking for the rest of the team.

"Damn... no signal." said Kakashi "Where in the hell did they go?"

An idea popped into Inari's head "Kakashi-sama, can your equipment be interfered by rock formations?"

Kakashi nodded, "Only if the equipment is surrounded by rocks all around, so if there's a mountain in between two signals, they will bend around and not be interrupted."

"So what? Like a cave?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's find any caves on record." suggested Inari.

"That'll take too much time, if they are in a cave, they are safe. So for now we have to consider the worst case scenario and search for their signal, they might be in danger, and have a limited time."

Inari sighed, "Fine... Oh yeah, why don't you use the ninja dogs of yours?"

"We're on water, they won't find any scent in the water."

"I thought you were the pro at tracking?"

"Shut up."

Kiyoshi was going over what he was going to say to Hikari, His conversation with Naruto opened his eyes to see that he isn't prepared. Not dating for three years has its consequences.

Kiyoshi was walking by Hikari's open door, so decided to walk into the girl's room. She was laying on the bed, reading a book "Hey Hikari-chan, how would you like to take a walk with me?" asked Kiyoshi coming up to her.

She smiled and put her book down, reaching her hand up to Kiyoshi. He took her hand to pick her up, but she pulled him down onto the bed instead. "How about we talk here?" she whispered in his ear.

Kiyoshi looked around "Umm..."

"Oh my god..." gasped Hikari "You're shy!"

Kiyoshi bit his lip in response "Let's take a walk outside... Please?"

She pecked him on the forehead "Alright" replied, getting up.

Kiyoshi got up after her, and she put her hand around his waist, he went along by putting his hand over her shoulder, and they walked out. The violet-haired girl smelled like fresh jasmine flowers, and her skin felt really soft to Kiyoshi, the years of wielding weapons and fighting made his skin extra-hard. "I'm sorry for dragging you out, it's just that I wouldn't be able to concentrate if I were in constant worry that Naruto would barge in."

Hikari put on a hurt expression "Are you afraid to admit that you like me?"

"No, that's not wha..."

She cut him of with laughter "I'm just kidding, stop being so uptight." Kiyoshi fell silent, looked down and smiled. "Come on, talk to me" continued Hikari "What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"I just wanted to talk, I guess." replied Kiyoshi "Tell me about yourself, thanks to your drugs you know almost everything about me, yet I still have to get to know you."

Hikari smiled "Where do you want me to begin?"

"First of all, your attitude. You're a sweet girl, but back on the ship you were a reckless rebel. You're not schizophrenic, are you?"

The girl giggled, "No, I'm just a good actor. In order to be the leader of that crew, I have to seem heartless. But after two years of being there, you become one of them, and truly start losing your heart."

Kiyoshi agreed on this, a captain couldn't be soft. "I see. But how did you end up a pirate anyways?"

"I was bored," replied Hikari "My family died before I was able to remember them, and my life was too meaningless."

"That's not an answer"

Hikari sighed; she was going to have to tell him the truth. "I joined up with the pirates for revenge."

Kiyoshi's eyes widened "What?"

"Long before the pirates, I lived with my older brother. We inherited a teashop from our parents, and we were able to make a living. Life was good, it seemed that everything was set up for us, to enjoy this world." Hikari was smiling; the happy times were reflected by the joyful expression. Kiyoshi frowned, knowing that the only way to not get disappointed is by expecting the worst. "Then they came, burning everything to the ground." The cheery expression was already faded away.

"Who?"

"The pirates. They came, burning, stealing, and killing for nothing but personal gain."

Kiyoshi was in shock, the girl before him was the leader of the criminals that destroyed her life. Before saying anything, he decided to hear the whole story first. "What happened to your brother?"

Hikari's eyes were now full of hate, scorching the girl's beauty. "The former captain killed him."

"Why?"

"The captain was advancing towards me, telling me about horrid things, things that he had done, things that he was going to do... things that would become of me." The hate in Hikari's eyes was now dominating all else. "My brother jumped in to stop him from hurting me, only to be pierced by a sword. He kept getting back up and cut down again, buying me time to run away."

Kiyoshi didn't know how this story could possibly lead to Hikari being the captain of several pirate ships. "And you ran away..."

"Yes. I ran, leaving my brother's screams behind me. I ran until my veins pumped rubber and my lungs inhaled razor blades... and then I ran some more. I didn't feel as if I was running away from the pirates, I was running away from my brother's misery."

Kiyoshi looked down at the ground. For the first time in his life, he felt fortunate for not having a family, he couldn't even imagine the pain that she felt. "I'm sorry about your brother."

Hikari wiped her tears off and smiled "It's all in the past now, nothing we do will change it." Hikari couldn't stand recalling her painful memories, but Kiyoshi wanted to know, the only thing she could do was tell him the rest and hope to not lose his respect. "And so I trained, I sought power and strength to avenge my brother. Every day doing nothing but training for eight years, driven by hate."

Kiyoshi smiled, revenge never ends nicely, but at least her intentions were noble to some extent. "Do you want to stop there for now?" he asked the weeping girl.

Hikari shook her head, no matter how unpleasant and misguided her actions were in the past, she had to tell him, put it all out on the table, and keep nothing hidden. "Two years ago I went out, seeking that murdering bastard and his crew, when I found him, I ripped him apart. Limb by limb, I was trying to satisfy myself with his pain. But the more I made him suffer, the more hate I felt."

"So you found your revenge."

"Yes, but with a price. No matter how much I tortured him, it didn't bring my brother back, and in the process I was losing myself as well."

Kiyoshi stopped walking and gave her a shoulder to cry on. Thinking to himself "These lessons can only be learned the hard way, or not at all."

After a few minutes, Hikari's crying had lessened, and she carried on, "After that, the crew took me in as their captain, only if I promised to never use my powers against them. I joined them, hoping to stop their criminal acts."

"Never happened, did it?"

"No, what happened was the exact opposite of what I wanted. Instead of changing them, they changed me, and I became the very evil that I sought out to destroy."

"You can't change pirates, they're like kids, all about peer pressure."

"Mutiny would be imminent."

Kiyoshi was shocked to find their relationship in the stage where they complete each other's sentences. "You're strong, two years of being on a ship with the same pirates that destroyed your life, and your heart survived." smiled Kiyoshi "I don't blame you, and you shouldn't either."

Tears of joy appeared in Hikari's eyes, she couldn't be happier from the fact that Kiyoshi accepted her. She felt light, as if every little worry and sin was lifted from her. "Thanks Kiyoshi-kun" said the violet-haired girl, giving him a hug and digging her face into his shoulder.

Kakashi's monitor had been giving off a signal for the past five minutes; he and Inari were following it to a nearby island.

"Do you think they're safe?" asked the kid

"If they are safe, they're very inconsiderate of my feelings," replied the masked ninja

"That brings me to the next question, aren't ninjas supposed to be emotionless?"

Kakashi was tired, and didn't feel like giving Inari a history lesson. "At one point, we were trained like that, but times change."

"Will you tell me about later?" asked Inari

Kakashi nodded "Yes, but for now let's focus on the task at hand."

Naruto took the opportunity of being alone to sort his mind out. He took a pencil and the notebook Kiyoshi gave him, and started writing his thoughts out in point-form notes. After a long and thorough observation of his scribbled brainstorming, he concluded "There's no more doubt about it, I have to tell Hinata about the Kyubi."

"Hey kid!" yelled the fox for Naruto's attention

"What is it fatass?" replied Naruto in a calm manner.

"Do you really thing that she'll accept you if you tell her about me?" asked the fox.

Naruto found the Kyubi's input to be strange, "why do you care? Are you afraid for my social life?" scoffed the blonde.

"Not really, I just don't want my host to go loopy on me," replied the Kyubi.

Naruto thought about everything that was just said, finding it difficult to believe that the beast inside him was concerned for his sake, "I don't think that's the reason you don't want me to tell her. If anything, telling her will strengthen the relationship. So from what I gather, it seems that my relationship with Hinata is posing as a threat to you."

The Kyubi backed off, "whoa, chill out Mr. Detective, it was just a suggestion."

"As of now, all your opinions are excluded from the matter," thought Naruto to the Kyubi, and then tuned the fox out completely.

Hikari hung off of Kiyoshi's back, chin resting on his shoulder. They were sitting on a ledge, over the sea, watching the sunset.

"Hikari, do you really think you want to go out with me?" asked Kiyoshi "After all, I have that..."

She put her index finger on his lips, "I don't care, I won't leave you."

The sun was shining its last rays on them, until the sky engulfed it completely, and the darkness crept over the red sky. "I've never felt this before. It's like I got a strong grasp on life, and it's not going to get out."

"I feel the same." replied Hikari, arms around Kiyoshi's shoulders.

That eerie feeling which Kiyoshi was already used to come to his attention, he barely noticed it anymore, but it was still there, like a gash on the roof of his mouth, it was bothering him.

Hikari noticed his discomfort "What is it?"

"I've had a strange feeling ever since I came to this country, it's as if something big is coming." explained the boy "do you feel it?"

Hikari frowned, "No, I don't."

"It's probably nothing."

"Don't concern yourself with petty things, and kiss me."

Kiyoshi dropped his head back, and his lips met Hikari's in a soft kiss.


	29. Chapter 28 A Solitary History

Chapter 28 

Kakashi and Inari reached the island and were carefully moving about it, trying to avoid any possible ambush.

"How much further is the signal?" asked Inari, hoping that the answer would be something like 'behind that rock'. More than Kiyoshi, Inari was a defensive fighter, sneaking around and looking for dangerous things was not his style.

To Inari's surprise, Kakashi answered "behind that rock," pointing in the direction of a boulder near a ledge.

The two of them cautiously walked around each side of the boulder, only to be met by sharp blades at their throats, their owners hanging off the boulder above them. "Hey Kakashi!" yelled Kiyoshi, "Hikari, it's alright, this is Kakashi and Inari, they're friends." both of the blades were lowered, the two teens jumped down, and Inari sighed in relief.

After everything was settled, Hikari started observing the ninja that she heard so much about "So you're Kakashi? Not as good as I'd hoped, according to Kiyoshi, sneaking up on you would be impossible. Maybe there's a first time for everything."

A voice came from behind the two teens "I see I was introduced, and I hope you believe Kiyoshi next time." as the Kakashi in front of them turned into a log and fell down to the ground.

Hikari quickly turned to look at the source of the voice, finding Kakashi lazily sitting on the boulder, reading a book. "Whoa."

Kiyoshi turned to the stunned Hikari and smiled "I told you so. He isn't a pushover, even now, what you see before you is a clone."

Kakashi smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Coming out from behind a tree. "You definitely are the master at meditation, Kiyoshi." said the copy ninja

Kiyoshi became displeased, turning away from the tree to look at the boulder again, "Kakashi-sama, please stop cloning yourself."

The masked ninja peeked out from behind the rock as his clone at the tree also disappeared. "Very nice, you got to teach me how to do that sometime."

Inari and Hikari were watching this battle of confusion from the side. "Is it over?" asked Inari

Hikari was stunned, she had seen a professional ninja at work, but Kakashi's deception skills were on a completely different level. What was even more amazing was that Kiyoshi was able to see past the copy ninja's skills, it seemed as if to Kiyoshi this was nothing more than finding an elephant behind a palm tree. "I can't be too sure," replied the girl.

Kiyoshi was getting pissed off, "Kakashi, I don't have time for your petty tricks, I want to spend some time with Hikari."

Kakashi stepped out from behind the boulder along with a clone and said, "Fine, I'll give this round to you." After which the clone disappeared and the real Kakashi turned to Hikari, "So, is Kiyoshi going to introduce us?"

Kiyoshi walked up to the girl, put his hand around her shoulder and said, "This is Hikari, the best person that ever happened to me."

Hikari slightly blushed at the introduction, "We met on the pirate ship."

Hikari's explanation answered Kakashi's next question, the one where he was going to ask if they found out about the pirates. Instead he asked, "You were a hostage there?" Kiyoshi burst out laughing. The masked ninja looked back and forth between the two teens in front of him, "What? Did I say something funny?"

After Kiyoshi finished laughing, he explained, "She's the captain of the five pirate ships."

Kakashi was surprised, the silly looking girl before him was the leader of many brigades of pirates. "I see." he nodded, rubbing his chin. "Kiyoshi, tell me this. How many have you had today?"

Hikari became insulted, "Kiyoshi didn't drink today, and for that matter he won't need to drink as long as I'm around."

Kakashi's impression of the girl changed from tamed to dangerous. "I better not mess with these two, or she'll kill me," thought Kakashi upon feeling Hikari's stare fixed upon him. "Alright, I believe you." Hikari calmed down when Kiyoshi kissed her on the cheek; changed back to the soft loving girl she was before. "I didn't ask before, but are you two going out?"

Kiyoshi turned to Kakashi and yelled sarcastically "Nooo, whatever gave you THAT idea."

Hikari giggled, "Yes, we're going out, is there a problem?"

Kakashi hesitated from telling all that he knows about Kiyoshi, but the blonde enlightened him "She knows more about me than you do. Even the kind of thing that will make you want to stay the hell away from me, and definitely kick me out of Konoha."

Kakashi was surprised by this comment, but didn't want to get into the discussion. He hadn't slept in two days and wanted some rest, "Where's Naruto and Hinata?"

"They're at my hideout, probably sleeping." replied Hikari

Kakashi sighed at the word 'sleep', "May I have some?"

"Sleep? Sure." answered Hikari, leading the group to the cave. Upon arrival to the invisible entrance, she said, "Here we are."

Kakashi and Inari looked at eachother, "And where are we?" asked Kakashi

"My cave." replied the girl, walking towards a mountainside, and disappearing into it.

Inari became freaked out "What is this? Where did she go?"

Kiyoshi didn't feel like explaining, so he grabbed the two guys by the hands and ran into the cave. Inari was terrified, he didn't feel like running into a wall, but to his surprise, instead of an impact, they ran into a cozy apartment-like residence. "Wow," he said looking around, "but I got to say, the place looked bigger on the outside," joked the kid.

"Inari, you're comparing this cave to a mountain," said Naruto coming out from his room with the notebook that Kiyoshi gave him.

Kiyoshi, seeing this, said, "I see you've been doing some thinking."

Kakashi ignored all this, went into Naruto's room, and fell asleep. The four kids followed his silent actions with their eyes and turned away after they were completed. Hikari started "There's six of us, and I don't know how any of you fight. It seems some of you aren't familiar with each other's styles."

Inari agreed on this more than the other two, "so what do you suggest?"

"I suggest we have an all-out sparring session tomorrow, but let's go to sleep for now." everyone agreed and went to their assigned by Hikari bedrooms.

The next day everybody but Naruto and Kiyoshi slept in. The two teens couldn't sleep at all; their worries were keeping them up all night. When the time said six-thirty, Naruto decided to get up to wander the hideout. When he walked out of the room, he saw Kiyoshi sitting in the living room.

"Hey Kiyoshi, what's up." said Naruto coming to sit next to the teen.

Kiyoshi lazily turned his head to look at Naruto "Nothing, just thinking over some things."

"Want to talk?"

"No, I don't discuss things like this. But this is the kind of thing that makes me afraid for Hikari's life."

"Protect her with your life" suggested Naruto

Kiyoshi looked down in disappointment, "I can't protect her. Just by being with me she's in danger."

Naruto thought about it, "Does she know about this?"

"Yes, but she still doesn't want to leave me."

"Then the decision is made. As soon as you told her, the decision was no longer yours." explained Naruto

A tear brewed in Kiyoshi's eye, "I never should have joined your village." whispered the blonde.

Naruto didn't understand why Kiyoshi would say something like this. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I met Hikari." Kiyoshi looked back at Naruto "for a very good reason, I swore myself to a solitary life. Now, for the selfish reason of being lonely, I put everyone in danger."

Naruto looked Kiyoshi in the eye, "Is there somebody hunting you?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, "I hope it's nothing, but if something bad happens to any of you, I'll hold myself responsible for as long as I live."

Naruto leaned back, this conversation wasn't going anywhere. No matter which direction it went in, there would always be a dead end, Kiyoshi wouldn't say what was bothering him. "Kiyoshi, you ARE living a solitary life."

Kiyoshi smiled, "When did you become so philosophical?"

A grin crept across Naruto's face "I learn from the best."

"Alright. Now tell me why you're not asleep."

"I'm afraid of what'll happen if I tell Hinata about the thing inside me," said Naruto

Kiyoshi found this understandable, "Afraid of life?"

Naruto looked up at the blonde before him, "What?"

Kiyoshi arched his back, leaning on his knees. "There are three main fears. The first one is the fear of life," said Kiyoshi keeping count of the fears on his fingers, "the second one is the fear of death," continued Kiyoshi, putting a second finger up. "And the third one," Kiyoshi looked up at Naruto, "is the fear of admitting that you have either of the first two."

Naruto was thinking about this, "So basically three fears; life, death, and denial?"

"Sure, if it'll help you keep track." replied Kiyoshi. "The third one, denial, is the easiest to overcome, because everyone is naturally born with all of them, and admitting is all you have to do."

Naruto nodded to indicate that he was following along. "Then..."

"The other two, are a lot harder, because in order to overcome them, you have to do more than admit that you're afraid. But..." Kiyoshi smiled "once you overcome one, you can easily overcome the other."

Naruto didn't understand the last part "what do you mean?"

Kiyoshi rephrased it using a different example "In order to have a good death, you have to have a life that's worth remembering."

This, Naruto understood. "Where are you going with all of this?"

"You're afraid of life," replied Kiyoshi, "This is very evident, because you very well know that it's better to tell Hinata now, than leave it in the freezer for her to find out later."

Naruto agreed, life is full of scary things, life is scary in itself, but in order to dominate it, you have to tackle it head on.


	30. Chapter 29 Nuclear Breakfast

Chapter 29 

"Five more minutes..." The line that's usually used by the teen with an eyesore of a suit. This time, to everyone's surprise, it was not Naruto.

Kiyoshi knocked on the door again to wake up his new girlfriend "I thought you wanted to show your skills off in front of everyone today!" yelled the blonde "you're the one who suggested that we have a sparring session!"

There was a pause with no reply.

Kiyoshi was getting amused by her behavior, it somewhat reminded him of his teammate, Naruto. "Are you even in there?" he asked, once again knocking on the door.

She replied "Ten more minutes."

Kiyoshi laughed. "You said 'five minutes' a few seconds ago," exclaimed the teen, barging in to find his girlfriend in underwear, lying on the bed in an awkward position. He instantly turned around and closed the door to prevent anyone else from seeing her half-naked. Facing the door, he tried to convince her to wake up, "Come on, wake up," and before he knew it, Hikari was hanging off his back.

Hikari had her hands and legs wrapped tightly around him "Come to watch me sleep?" whispered the girl into his ear.

Kiyoshi couldn't care less about her arms keeping a stranglehold on his neck; his breathing was just fine thanks to his handy muscle structure. Yet he still hated to think what would happen to anyone else if they were caught in her grasp. "Don't blame that on me, you were the one who didn't want to wake up."

Hikari slid off his back. As she was putting her clothes on, she kept her boyfriend in sight to make sure he wasn't peeking. "Do you still weigh half a ton?"

"Are you making fun of my weight?" complained Kiyoshi with a hurt voice.

Hikari laughed, "you know I'm just kidding, stop being so uptight."

The blonde smiled, he knew better than to expect disappointment from Hikari. "Are you done dressing yet?"

Hikari came up from behind, stroked his hair and kissed him on his cheek. "You're a gentleman aint ya?" joked Hikari, nibbling on his ear.

Kiyoshi turned around, softly put his arms around her and gave her a deep kiss on the lips. "I hear those words way to often, they should be engraved on my tombstone."

Hikari broke the contact between their lips, "very romantic..."

Kiyoshi laughed and dragged his girlfriend out of her room, but to his surprise she was still resisting. He found out the reason when Naruto yelled out "Put some friggin pants on, I can see your black panties!"

Hikari covered her nether region with both hands and yelled in reply "Stop observing them!"

Naruto covered his eyes with the palm of his hand, still peeking through a slit between the fingers. Kiyoshi was stunned, "I thought that you were dressed!"

"Why on earth would you think that?" yelled the girl in reply, rushing back into her own room.

"Because you were nibbling on my ear!"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

Kakashi stepped out of his room to see what all the commotion was about. After several moments of witnessing the situation he shook his head in disbelief, "You'd think those two were married," said the masked ninja to Hinata, who was walking by his door, and watching the argument as well.

Hinata thought about it, she couldn't believe what she was witnessing; Hikari and Kiyoshi were fighting, but at the same time still keeping that love pouring between them evident. "I sort of envy them."

Kakashi turned his head towards the Hyuga; he couldn't believe her statement because he didn't feel what she did. Kakashi couldn't feel the love connecting Hikari and Kiyoshi, the only thing he could feel was the need to close the door and get back to reading his tormented book. "Call me when everything's settled and breakfast is ready." said the copy ninja, vanishing back into his room and locking the door.

Inari was already up, and making a check-up on his crossbow. The trigger was so outdated that it got jammed on the sixth click, "damn thing's supposed to go up to eleven in one pull of the trigger," sighed the kid. "This'll have to do for now though, I never shoot anything more than three arrows at a time anyways."

Naruto came barging into his room screaming "Help me, I'm being chased by dogs!"

Inari couldn't react in time. Before he knew it, Naruto and a stampede of dogs trampled all of his stuff, leaving a big mess behind. The only thing Inari managed to save was his crossbow. "Where the hell did he bring those dogs from?"

The morning was chaos. Hikari and Kiyoshi were creating half of the racket, Naruto and the dogs were creating the other half. Hinata was desperately trying to quiet everything down, Inari was fixing his room, and Kakashi was doing what he always does in chaotic situations; he chilled out in his room, reading a book.

Once everything was settled down, breakfast was made, and dogs chased out, everyone sat down to enjoy their meals in peace.

Kiyoshi turned to the spiky-haired blonde, "Naruto, where did those dogs come from?"

Naruto felt somewhat uncomfortable with all the eyes fixed on him; everyone wanted to know the answer to the question. "I... don't... know," replied the teen, rubbing his shoulder.

"You seem to have a knack to attract dogs," stated Kiyoshi "was it always like that?"

Naruto shook his head, "no, it's just happened recently. I was also attacked by dogs when Hinata and I separated to cover Kakashi's route."

Kiyoshi became suspicious, the situation back in Konoha was Naruto's fault, and these dogs probably got attracted by something idiotic he may have done as well. But three incidents involving a pack of dogs trying to hunt Naruto down was getting slightly suspicious. "Oh well, they weren't here to kill anyone, and they were only after Naruto. It's not too big of a deal," concluded Kiyoshi, carrying on with his meal.

Naruto became enraged by the last comment, "if I had a terminal disease, you wouldn't be saying that!" exclaimed the whiskered teen.

"But you don't," replied Kiyoshi through a full mouth.

Naruto turned to Hikari, "how can you stand him? Let alone date him?" asked the blonde, recalling the morning's argument between the two.

Hikari smiled "Love isn't something that outsiders can see. The world of love only exists between the two lovers, nobody from the outside can possibly feel what the lovers feel."

Kakashi put his book down, "that's very profound."

Hinata stepped into the conversation, "but that's not true!" exclaimed the Hyuga, getting everyone's attention. She turned to Kakashi "don't tell me you didn't feel the love between these two, when they were making that ruckus this morning?"

Kakashi didn't know what she was talking about, "all I felt was terror, these two are scary when they argue."

Hikari jumped in, "you felt it too? How?" coming closer and closer to Hinata with every word.

Hinata was starting to feel sorry for giving her input; Hikari's attention was too overwhelming. "I just felt it┘ I don't know how."

The distance between the two girls' faces was now dangerously close. Kakashi rubbed his hands together in excitement, hoping for something to happen, something that in Naruto's terms would be called 'perverted'.

Nobody heard a sound escape Inari's mouth. He was just sitting there, eating his breakfast.

Kiyoshi turned to the pre-teen, "you alright? You've been quiet all morning."

Inari nodded in reply, "I just can't provide any input to your conversations."

The blonde found this to be disappointing; everyone should be in on morning conversations. He decided to quickly finish everything and drag everyone outside to have an all-out sparring session. Rushing through his breakfast, he nearly choked on it. Once he was done, he took Inari by the wrist and ran outside, yelling to everyone behind him, "we're going to start the sparring, finish up and join us."

Naruto started shoving the food down his own throat, trying to get the food inside him to get to training with Kiyoshi as soon as possible.

"Naruto-kun! Don't eat so quickly or you'll..." started Hinata, only to be cut off by the sounds of Naruto's choking, "choke."

Hikari was laughing at the struggling blonde, "good job, now you'll be late for training."

Naruto successfully got the rice out of his lungs and started heavily breathing for air. "Shut up," said the blonde running outside to join the spar.

Kakashi got up, not removing his eyes from the book, and followed the rest of the guys to their morning exercise.

The two girls were now left alone by the messed up breakfast table. Hikari shook her head "boys..."

Hinata now had another opportunity to talk to Hikari privately. "Hikari, your relationship with Kiyoshi..."

"What about it?"

Hinata didn't know whether or not she should be asking the next question. "I know it's a private matter, but can you tell me more about Kiyoshi?"

"What? Why?" asked Hikari with an inquisitive face, "You're not getting him away from me."

Hinata felt embarrassed by this turn of conversation, "That's not what I meant..."

"Then what?"

"The other day, we were discussing Kiyoshi's sanity, I'm just wandering if he's alright."

Hikari laughed, Hinata's concern for her teammates was something she hadn't seen for a long time. "Kiyoshi's a bit messed up, yes. But I'm going to fix him up for the use of everyone and myself." joked Hikari, "don't worry, he doesn't bite."

"But what about..." Hinata was about ask about Kiyoshi's history, but before she could, Hikari grabbed her by the arm and dragged her after the guys.

The six of them took a moment to stretch. The island had a perfect setup of trees, sand and water, for them to have the free-for-all fight they were waiting for.

Author's note: Hey again, I have some good news, some bad news and some worse news. The good news are, I forgot the worse news. And the bad news are that I'll be leaving for three days, and therefore I won't be typing or posting chapters. But, I will be writing them in my notebook in my free time, so there will be work done on the story. The chapter that you just read is my last post before I leave, but I have one ready for when I come back. Furthermore, I am currently in my exam week, so if you want to complain about lack of updates, go find some other lazy writer and do so to him/her. Thanks to everyone who reads my fanfic, and double thanks to all those who like it.


	31. Chapter 30 The Free for All Fight

Chapter 30 

The six of them stood at the furthest corners of the semi-circular lake, getting ready for the ultimate spar. At Kakashi's command "Hajumae!" everyone rushed to the center of the lake, engaging the free-for-all fight.

As they were running, Kakashi threw a smoke bomb up in the air to act as a screen, and started performing seals.

A transmission came from Kiyoshi through the microphone, "Kakashi, remember you asked me if I had any more hidden weapons? Well if you convince me to, I'll show them to you."

At that moment, Naruto jumped at Kiyoshi, catching him off-guard and shoving a rasengan into his chest. Kiyoshi flew back spinning, and landed in a low position.

Hikari took this opportunity to attack Naruto. Running up to him, she threw a punch, which he was able to easily evade. A slap followed the punch and landed on the boy's cheek, she jumped back to let him realize what she had just done.

Naruto felt an exceptional pain come from the slap, when he rubbed his cheek; he saw blood on his hand. "Ow!"

Hikari opened her fist and waved at Naruto, revealing hidden metal claws. "I thought you were a ninja."

Hinata was currently fighting Inari, advancing and fending off from his crossbow shots. Inari reattached his crossbow, and went into a battle stance preparing for close combat. Hinata ran in, throwing attacks at the kid with no effect. Inari was relaxed, the attacks were fast, but in relaxation, everything becomes slow and easy to spot.

Naruto and Kiyoshi were going head-to-head, Naruto desperately trying to get Kiyoshi with his kunai. The whiskered teen was able to land several hits on Kiyoshi, thus making him bleed.

Kiyoshi still didn't want to take his kodachis out; he didn't even want to fight. The only good he used this training session for, was evasion and defense. Moving his head out of the way of Naruto's stab, he felt a presence behind him. Making a sharp move, he was able to evade Naruto's clone, which also wielded a dagger.

Kiyoshi was stunned "when did you get the chance to create a clone?"

Naruto was swinging attacks at Kiyoshi, landing a few into his chest and shoulder. "I tossed shurikens at you, remember?"

Kiyoshi smiled while evading the next attack "so you disguised several clones as weapons before starting the fight. Very nice tactic, but you shouldn't give it away until you're sure that the fight is over."

Naruto was getting ticked off, "what fight? Youre not fighting."

"I'm sorry if that's insulting you, but I can't take the risk. I swing to kill, and I don't want to harm any of you," replied Kiyoshi, whose body was now extremely cut up and bleeding.

Naruto hesitated with the next attack, "I'm off to fight someone else, you're no fun." And with that Naruto took off, seeking a fight with Kakashi

Kakashi emerged from underwater in front of Hikari, he didn't know her abilities, but she didn't know his either. Taking out a kunai, he charged into combat, to be hit by a flaming punch in the stomach. The copy ninja exploded in a puff of smoke.

Hikari looked around to find the real Kakashi, when a couple of clones jumped out from underwater, grabbing onto her limbs, making her immobile. The real copy ninja emerged from the water in front of her, "Is that it?"

Hikari smirked, "Do you know what's so special about these clothes?"

"I'm guessing you're about to tell me?"

Hikari shook her head, "I'm going to show you," replied the girl. Everything around her started sizzling, the clones were slowly disintegrating, and the water under her was starting to evaporate. With the last clone no longer there to hold her down, she jumped at the real Kakashi, making him submerge before she could get to him. "Oh no you don't." said the girl putting both her palms on the water's surface.

Inari and Hinata stopped attacking eachother due to the water suddenly heating up. It was starting to become really hot everywhere, a little more and the water would start boiling. They rushed off to the sandy beach to continue their fight without being cooked alive.

Naruto and Kiyoshi also felt the temperature rapidly increasing; neither knew what was going on. Naruto ran back to the beach, while Kiyoshi went on to check if his girlfriend was safe.

Kakashi couldn't handle the heat; he had to get to the surface again. Hikari had caught him in a tight spot, no clones would survive the heat, they would all disintegrate at once, and he had to go out into the open. Sneaking was over; it was time to start the fight with the girl.

Kiyoshi came to the see Hikari standing on boiling water, he was sweating, soles of his shoes starting to get soft, and the heat was too unbearable for anyone to survive. He looked around searching for Kakashi, who was nowhere to be found, the only explanation he could come up with was that he is underwater. "Hikari!" yelled the teen, concerned for the girl's safety.

Kakashi jumped out from underwater, skin red, as if he just got out of a hot spring. "Damn you're hot!" said Kakashi jumping up into the air to get out of the heat.

"Only I'm allowed to say that!" yelled Kiyoshi, taking his trench coat off and pitching it to the shore of the lake. Followed by taking off a couple weights from his pants and tossing them after the coat. There was nothing left to cover Kiyoshi's bleeding, the vest and shirt were soaked in his blood, and several cuts were visible on his face and neck.

Kakashi landed on the surface and jumped off again. "Kiyoshi, how can you stand the heat in all those clothes?"

Kiyoshi didn't reply, he took off after the copy-ninja in mid-air, tackling him out of balance. After landing alongside Kakashi a hundred meters away, he replied, "I love the heat, it's the cold that I can't stand." Grabbed the masked ninja by the collar and tossed him back in Hikari's direction.

While in midair, the copy ninja used Naruto's tactic, and crossed his fingers across his chest, making a clone appear and toss him into a different direction. Before he was able to land as he had planned, Kiyoshi appeared in front of him, with an attempted punch in the face. Kakashi was able to block it, but at the cost of his balance. He fell down to the boiling surface, and jumped off it again.

Hikari was watching the two guys fight in the distance, still heating the water to keep Kakashi from hiding underwater.

Kiyoshi and Kakashi were fighting at an eye-piercing speed, his weights weren't weighing him down, every move, feeling light, and he was able to attack with a speed that changed the air currents around him.

Kakashi was able to keep up, his eyes were accustomed to fast movements, and evasion was a lot easier when he was keeping his calm. Twisting himself around Kiyoshi, he took his kunai and standing back-to-back stabbed Kiyoshi in the leg. "This should slow him down."

At moment's notice, Kiyoshi disappeared and reappeared underwater, under Kakashi. Grabbing on to the seemingly unsuspecting ninja's ankles, he was starting to pull him down.

This stunned Hikari, nobody has ever done something so reckless. Kiyoshi was completely submerged in boiling water, and using the fact to his advantage. "Kiyoshi!" screamed the concerned girl; her boyfriend was being cooked alive. She stopped heating the water, but had no method of cooling it down again. Kiyoshi was a goner, "What on earth is Kiyoshi thinking?" thought the girl, staring at the submerging Kakashi.

Kakashi was sinking into boiling water, but a smile lurked under his mask. When he was submerged knee-deep, he gave off a sigh and said, "that should have been enough for you to feel some pain," and turned into a log.

Kiyoshi let go, and jumped out of the water. Unlike when Kakashi emerged from the water, his skin wasn't red; the hot water didn't do anything to him. The only thing it did was burned his wounds shut and washed his hair. Turning to a reef sticking out of the water, "You sly dog, I didn't noticed you replaced yourself when I had grabbed on."

Kakashi came out and was staring at the teen in front of him in disbelief, Kiyoshi wasn't even slightly hurt by the heat, the water had evaporated off him, and he wasn't even sweating. "Are you sure you're human?"

Kiyoshi's cheer vanished in that moment's notice; Kakashi's question had a really hurting effect on the blonde. He turned around walking to his girlfriend. "I've had enough, go check on the rest of the team."

Kakashi took his book out and started back to the other three.

Kiyoshi walked up to the concerned Hikari, "Are you alright?" asked the blonde

Hikari stared at him in disbelief, "am I alright?" repeated Hikari in a scared tone. "You're asking ME if I'm alright?"

The blonde looked around, not finding anyone else he could have spoken to. "Um, yeah."

The girl threw a punch at him, making him fly back, "what the hell were you thinking?!! You could have died!"

Kiyoshi got up, putting his jaw back into place. "I don't know what you're so angry about, I'm fine."

Hikari ran up to him and hugged him, weeping. "You asshole... I was worried..."

Kiyoshi hugged her back, "I'm sorry, I should have told you that I'd be safe."

She kissed him on the lips, not letting go. "Never do anything like that again." Hikari stood back, analyzing her boyfriend, the cuts he had on his face had stopped bleeding, and his hair was more blonde than ever. "How did you survive that?"

"Over several years of fighting and killing, I got swung across rough surfaces and got burned several times. It doesn't show, but I have pretty dense skin from my encounters." explained Kiyoshi, "but the nerves and skin are still there nevertheless, so I feel pain even more than any normal person does."

At this moment several shurikens swept Kiyoshi off his feet and off to the side. Hikari was starting to get tired of being concerned for his safety and turned to face the assailant. "Naruto, you're starting to get quite annoying."

Naruto wiped his satisfied face off, "what? Why?"

"Because we were in the middle of something!" yelled Hikari and started chasing the blonde around the lake with a ball of lava in her palm.

Kiyoshi got up, moaning, "what the hell just happened?" After a glance around, he found that somebody put more holes in him, and Hikari was chasing something orange. "I've had enough for today," said Kiyoshi getting up and starting back to Hikari's hideout.

Naruto stopped running and threw several kunai at Hikari.

The girl jumped up and grabbed the sides of her attire, pulling them in opposite directions. A long cape spread out concealing her, allowing Naruto's kunai fly through without touching her.

"What on earth is THAT?" asked Naruto

Hikari jumped out from hiding and landed on the water, the long black cape waving in her background. "Just something I picked up."

Naruto threw a shuriken at her, making her jump up into the air and get consumed by the monstrous free-form cape. The shuriken went in, and out of her concealment. Hikari became visible to Naruto's eye again, and landed on the water's surface. "This is a very nice material, it has the ability to expand and shrink, and therefore it can become as soft as a feather and as tough as diamond."

"But which it?"

"It's both," replied Hikari, slightly confusing the teen. "I control its state with my chakra."

Naruto smiled "so that's why it moves according to your will."

"That's right, I can turn it into a shield to deflect attacks, I can make it into a screen to prevent the enemy from being able to aim at me. I can move it freely, as if it were an extension of my body, and lastly..." Hikari smirked "this material is fire-resistant, so I can play with fire all I want and not burn my clothes off."

Naruto didn't want to fight her; she seemed to be a powerful opponent. She had her strategy figured out, and weakness was still unknown, and probably several other jutsu that were yet to be seen. But a hard opponent meant good training, "Let's go shorty!" yelled Naruto charging at the girl.

Hinata and Inari were done fighting, and were now kata training under Kakashi's supervision. Kiyoshi got back to the hideout and started searching for alcohol to treat his wounds with (and drink). Hikari and Naruto fought until neither could stand properly, and started back to the shore while they still had chakra to keep them on top of the water's surface.

Author's note: That's all I have in stock for now, I'm going to start another chapter, hopefully be able to post one tomorrow. Tell me what you thought of the fight scene, I haven't written one in a while, and I'd like to know if this one was any good. Should I have written several chapters of the fight, or knocked some more sense into it?

Anyways, on an unrelated topic, I saw that some people listened to my music lately. I'm not sure if it was anybody reading this, but I might as well ask. If anyone listened to my music, tell me what you thought of it.

Thanks for reading, and hope you grow an extra leg to make walking easier.


	32. Chapter 31 Gifts

Chapter 31 

Kiyoshi, surprisingly enough found the girl's hidden stash of alcohol, and was following his 'one for you, one for me' way of treating his wounds. Everybody else was done training and having a fun time at the island's beach. Naruto was swimming after fish, Kakashi was surfing, Inari was carving arrows out of branches, and the girls were tanning themselves and chatting about random events in their lives.

After having treated his wounds, Kiyoshi went back to look for the group in hopes of teaming up with them to go on the merry quest of killing time. Upon spotting their fun in the distance, he tripled his pace towards them, tripped, and made a face-grind for twenty meters until Hikari stopped him and lifted him up by the feet.

Hanging upside down from Hikari's hands, Kiyoshi looked up at his girlfriend, "Hey there, you seem to have grown a lot since the last time I saw you," joked the blonde, spitting sand out in between every few words.

Naruto jumped out from the water, to find the funny setup of Kiyoshi dangling from Hikari's grasp in a helpless position. "You got owned!" yelled the spiky-haired blonde to Kiyoshi.

Hikari didn't approve of Naruto's input, more so she didn't approve the fact that Naruto had input to give. She swung Kiyoshi around into Naruto, who flew back several hundred meters and landed in the lake with a big splash. Putting her boyfriend down, "you should be more careful," said the girl.

Kiyoshi, lying sideways on the sand and resting his head in the palm of his hand, was more happy than stunned by the fact that his girlfriend could lift him up and use him as a weapon. "How is it that you can lift me?" asked Kiyoshi

Hikari lay herself down beside him, smiling. She then pulled the side of her clothes, they stretched and retracted. "Like I told Naruto, this fabric is manipulated by my chakra. Therefore I can use them as an addition to my strength."

"That's awesome! Now tell me why you're so hot." smirked Kiyoshi

The girl joked at Kiyoshi's poor flirting skills, "What's the matter? Jealous?"

"Does that mean you don't consider me hot?" replied Kiyoshi in hopes of scoring pity with his hurt facial expression.

The cheap pity-scoring trick didn't work on Hikari; she shot down every one of his attempts to get her kiss, and instead tried to get him to make the move. "Among other things... You're not hot, but you don't like me because I'm sexy either,■ replied the girl.

Kiyoshi shot another attempt at her soft side, "but you are!"

"I know I am," laughed the tanned girl, getting up and running towards the water.

"Hey wait a seco..." started Kiyoshi only to catch a mouthful of the sand kicked back by Hikari's run. "Pretty smooth..." thought Kiyoshi

Hinata and Naruto were watching the invisible battle of speech craft in silence, and sitting in awe when it was over. The words weren't too impressive, but the taunting and flirting in the teens' voices was having a deep impact on the surroundings.

Kiyoshi followed his girlfriend into the water. Naruto and Hinata were left alone, the blonde wanted to tall her about the Kyubi within him, but kept hesitating. "What is it Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata upon spotting the disturbance in his look.

Naruto snapped out of his confusion and faced Hinata. It was such a beautiful day, they were having fun, and he didn't want to ruin it by the unhappy conversation. "It's..." He knew that what he would say next was going to make or break the day.

"Are you alright?" asked the Hyuga, putting her forehead to his.

Naruto shrugged, worry was now the only thing he felt. "Damn I'm a coward..." thought the blonde. "I'll tell you later, it's something that should wait."

Hinata frowned; Naruto was keeping a secret from her. "Alright, tell me when you're ready," said Hinata standing up and walking away towards the water.

Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and came up to Naruto, "that's what's going to happen every time you don't tell her. Secrets, no matter how small or big, will always make a relationship waste away."

Naruto didn't get startled; he was too busy feeling sorry for himself. "But she looks so happy, I don't want to ruin her day."

Kakashi looked down at the blonde, "Happy?" asked the masked ninja. "Why don't you take a closer look?"

Naruto looked up to look at Hinata; she was splashing water with Kiyoshi and Hikari. On a closer observation he realized that his girlfriend wasn't happy at all. She was having a fun time with the water fight, but her eyes contained sadness that would break any heart. "Why? Why is she sad?"

"She's sad because you're sad. She's sad because the man she adores, her boyfriend, doesn't trust her with his pain." replied Kakashi

Naruto hugged his knees, "but what if she doesn't like what I tell her?"

Kakashi smacked the teen at his feet, picked him up by the collar and started bitchslapping him. "Wake up dumbass! She will love you no matter what! And here you go hurting her with your cowardice and stupidity!"

Naruto didn't struggle. He took the hits, knowing that his former mentor is correct. "When should I tell her?" asked the whiskered kid, nothing but remorse left in his sapphire eyes.

Kakashi dropped him and pointed to the water fight, "now!"

Naruto hesitated, but once Kakashi kicked him he started slowly walking towards Hinata. Each step heavier than the last, he didn't know what to say, "I have the Kyubi, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier?" thought Naruto, tears forming in his eyes.

Hinata spotted the blonde coming into the water, heading towards her, struggling to keep the tears back. She started back to him, "Naruto-kun?" said Hinata, taking his hands. "What's wrong?"

Naruto felt like a soldier being ordered to march into certain death against his will. He had to soothe the situation down, "can I talk to you in private?"

Hinata nodded and they went to a nearby tree, nobody was there to distract them. Naruto felt even heavier than he did in the water. No matter how much he was going to change the atmosphere, the feeling would always get heavier with each passing second. "I have something to tell you..."

Hinata saw his worry, she saw his fear, and she felt it too. But she felt happiness as well, he was about to tell her something important and painful, entrust her with himself. "What is it?"

Naruto took a deep breath; he wasn't ready, marching into a battlefield with one bullet in a pistol and no home to return to. "Before I tell you, please know this. No matter what you will think of me, and whatever your decision will be, I will always love you." Naruto was on the verge of tears even more than before.

Hinata didn't know what to make of this, how horrible is the secret that he can't even think about telling her without breaking into tears?

Naruto looked up and gave off a deep sigh to calm his breathing. Looking at his girlfriend again, "I should have told you this before, a long time ago. Many people in Konoha hate me, there's a reason for that."

Hinata knew that every adult in the village despised Naruto's existence, yet never knew why. He hadn't done anything to them, before she first saw him, he couldn't have done anything horrible to receive this much hate. "Why?" asked the Hyuga, she always wondered about it, but never really cared about outside opinions about her love. She would always love him.

Naruto swallowed again, "do you remember the stories of the Kyubi?"

This was an unexpected turn of conversation to Hinata; does he have something to do with the monster? He can't, he's too young to have anything to do with the monster. "What about it?"

The boy's next words were spoken in a shivery voice, a voice of a soldier in shellshock. Not because his life was traumatizing, and not because it was painful to recall, but because he was about to give Hinata something painful, and that's hard to endure. "The Kyubi is... Sealed inside me." eventually spoke the blonde.

Hinata was speechless, she didn't know what to do, how to react. Her next move was out of instinct, and it even surprised the girl herself. She slapped her boyfriend, even though it was surprising to her, she knew why she did it. "How dare you question my devotion to you? How dare you keep me out of this?" spoke the girl with a weepy voice. The next thing she did was she hugged him, "don't you know this won't nearly be enough to scare me away?"

Upon hearing this, Kyubi became displeased, "shit..." thought the oversized fox.

Naruto felt the fox's discomfort; Hinata was definitely posing a threat to the nine-tails. Could there be something that he didn't know? Something about the fox was being kept secret from the boy. Putting the thoughts aside, he wrapped his arms around Hinata, holding her close to his heart from there on out.

Kakashi felt like shit, eavesdropping on Naruto's private talk didn't have too nice of an effect on the copy ninja's self-esteem. Apologizing would only hurt his image, so he sprung off to check up on Inari.

Inari had made a stockpile of bolts for his crossbow, and was now devising a means of carrying them around. "I'll always be limited to a flock of arrows if I don't think of something better..."

Kakashi came out from behind the stockpile of wooden arrows, "that's quite a lot of ammunition you've carved for yourself... But how are you going to carry it around with you?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," replied the boy

"Need a hint?" smiled Kakashi.

Inari looked up to see if the ninja was serious, coming up with a solution so soon after the problem has been introduced. "You know of a way?"

"Yes, and after I tell you, I don't think you'll ever want to carve arrows again."

"What are you talking about?"

"How good is your chakra control?" asked Kakashi, before he could teach him what he had on his mind, this kid would need to have excellent control of his chakra.

Inari should have expected something to do with chakra, "are you suggesting chakra arrows?"

A smile was hidden under the ninja's mask, "something even better."

"Fine, I believe you, but does that mean I'll need to perfect my control?"

"Yes, but lucky you, the technique I'm about to teach you can only be exercised through execution."

"What does that mean?"

"That means, you'll be practicing this technique by executing it. What else could I mean?"

Inari shrugged and reattached his crossbow onto his back.

Kiyoshi and Hikari were swimming through the center of the lake when the blonde climbed onto the surface, panting and gasping for air. Hikari swam up to him, "tired already?"

Kiyoshi opened one eye and looked up at the girl, "it's hard to swim when you weigh 1100 pounds."

Hikari grabbed one of his feet and dragged him underwater; Kiyoshi struggled to keep his face above the surface with no prevails. He wondered why Hikari was drowning him, when something soft toughed his lips and air entered his mouth. He opened his eyes to find her eyes closed, she was kissing him.

Hikari broke away from her boyfriend and mouthed, "Trust me"

Kiyoshi nodded and she dragged him underwater, all the way to the bottom. Upon arrival to the sandy floor of the lake, Kiyoshi was almost out of breath. Lack of air, darkness, sinking deeper following your loved one, this was Kiyoshi's idea of a good death.

A light opened up, lighting the beautiful underwater scenery, fish and seaweed dancing all over the place. He looked down to find Hikari signaling him to come closer to the treasure chest under her. He swam down to her; she opened the box, letting an unbelievable dance of huge air bubbles out of the chest. They caught as many of the bubbles as they could to prevent suffocation, after which Hikari reached inside the chest and pulled a small glowing box. She signaled for them to surface and closed the chest, all the light vanished with the insides of the chest, and they swam back up.

Breaking the surface and gasping for air, the two of them stared at eachother. Kiyoshi was confused, Hikari had just risked his life for the box, "what's in there?"

Hikari climbed on top of the water before answering the question and offered her hand to Kiyoshi. The blonde took her hand and she pulled him up, "this is my present to you," explained the girl, opening the box.

Kiyoshi looked inside, finding black cloths in the shape of ribbons. Taking them out and observing them, they felt soft and delicate. Kiyoshi failed to see why he had just risked his life for them, furthermore why Hikari had risked her life. Before being disappointed, he decided to find out what they truly were, "explain."

Hikari took one of the black ribbons and passed some chakra through it, the cloth started waving in the air, formed a sword, then relaxed and wrapped around Kiyoshi, dragging him closed to Hikari for yet another kiss. "This is the same material that my clothes are made of, you control its shape shifting with your chakra."

Kiyoshi took it and observed it again, this time in awe. "I don't know what to say..."

Hikari hugged him, "you don't have to say anything, just be with me."

The boy hugged her back, "how about I try these out?"

Author's note: There's another chapter I pulled out of my ass... not really, i tried, but one can only do so much in half a day. Nobody's been reviewing lately, Has everyone died off or something? Or should I slow my posting down? Anyways, whichever it is, I hope you like what I write, by the end of the next chapter the six characters will set out to complete the mission. Just watch what I'm going to do in chapter 33... I'd love to see reactions. Thanks for reading, this is Silencer299 signing out.


	33. Chapter 32 Preparations

Chapter 32 

Kiyoshi removed his chains, and dropped him in the water, watching them sink into the abyss. Attaching the ribbons to his kodachi, he tried to make them airborne. The first few tries failed miserably, the only thing he could make from the ribbons were straight pole-like stretches.

Hikari took one of the ribbons, "the reason you can't get it is because all you do is pass chakra through them."

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?" asked the blonde, failing another attempt at making his kodachi fly.

"Yes, but you have to be able to control the chakra in the shape of your desire," explained Hikari, then used the ribbon to stretch out and spell her name.

Kiyoshi looked up at her name floating above the girl, "that brings me to the next point, what's your family name?"

"Ito" smiled Hikari.

"Pleased to meet you. Now let's try this again," said the boy and concentrated his chakra in an arc. This time the ribbon lifted his kodachi and made a whip-like movement upwards. "Awesome..."

Kakashi was teaching Inari got to compress arrows. The lesson was going extremely well, the kid absorbed the ninja's teachings like a sponge.

"Now try to compress it even further," said Kakashi

Inari focused more chakra, and the arrow broke into a dozen shards of sharp wood. "Damn it..."

The shards gave Kakashi several more ideas, but he would teach them once Inari got the hang of this exercise. "Don't ram it together at once, you have to inject chakra particles evenly throughout the wood, and then compress them."

Inari tried it again, this time able to compress it even further without breaking the sharp piece of wood. "At this rate I'll be able to carry twenty times the arrows that I could before!" thought the crossbow-kid after observing his latest success.

"Good, now we can expand from there."

Inari was surprised by the fact that Kakashi had more tricks up his sleeve. "Where do we go from here?"

"Let me put it this way, what happens to the arrows when you compress them?"

Inari looked down at the piece of wood in his hand, "they get smaller."

"What about the mass?"

Inari picked up another arrow and compared the two. They weighed the same, "wow..."

"Yeah. Now, where does your chakra go when you use it to compress the arrows?" asked the masked ninja

Inari thought about it, "into the arrow itself?"

Kakashi kneeled down "exactly, and that's the most beautiful part of this technique. You store chakra in your arrows."

Inari didn't get where Kakashi was going with this, "so?"

"So what if you are able to remove that chakra seconds before the arrow's impact with the target?"

The boy's eyes widened, "can I do that?"

Kakashi smirked, "why not? It's your chakra."

Inari loaded the arrow into his crossbow, and shot it at a nearby tree. As the bolt was flying, he attempted to retract the chakra from it at a distance, with minimal success. "Didn't work."

Kakashi came over to the tree and pulled the bolt out, bringing it back to show Inari. The arrow was slightly bigger than it was before, "I don't think you failed that badly."

Inari observed the arrow with satisfaction; he was one step closer to learning his key technique. "Why did you ask about the mass?"

Kakashi felt another lesson coming, "There's a law in kinematics, the energy of a moving object can be measured but multiplying one half of the mass, by the speed squared." Inari was more confused than ever, so Kakashi drew it out on the sand, "1/2m x v2"

"So since the mass is the same, the energy doesn't change when the arrow expands again?"

"Precisely, the only thing to stop it is the air resistance, but that shouldn't be a problem if the arrow gets very close to the opponent before expanding."

Inari was thinking this over, "but that means..."

"Yes, you can have two different ways of attacking an opponent. If you don't retract the chakra from the arrow, it'll have a higher piercing effect. If you retract, it'll still pierce, but it will have more of a forceful pushing effect." explained Kakashi

"Is there anything else you have up your sleeve?"

Kakashi grinned, "yes, but master this first, and I'll teach you more."

Hinata was troubled, "but why does everyone in Konoha hate you?"

Naruto shrugged, "the Kyubi is inside me, they experienced its destruction, and it killed many families and friends of those who hate me."

"That can't be it, you didn't do anything, why do they hate YOU?"

Naruto didn't expect Hinata's reaction, but he might as well should have. Ever since she had confessed to him and set up a stable relationship, she'd been maturing day by day. Her stutter was now gone, the shyness and her lack of input was now gone too. Naruto didn't know the reason why the village hated him either, "Because the Kyubi is inside me, that's as much of an explanation as I've ever gotten."

This saddened Hinata, her love had such a harsh childhood, an expense for someone else's mistake. But this made her love him even more. Through all that hate from the villagers, and through all that pain of not having or knowing his parents, he grew up trying to better himself and prove his worth amongst everyone. "How did this happen? Why was the Kyubi sealed inside you?"

Naruto's sorrow was now gone. Reminiscing about his past was nowhere nearly as scary as bringing Hinata into his mess. He didn't start the mess, but he was caught up in it nevertheless. "From what I've been told, the Kyubi was too powerful to defeat, so it was sealed inside me in hopes of containment. Now the beast is going to die along with me."

"And everyone hates you? I don't get it, you are the village's savior."

"But I'm also the village's destruction."

"No you're not, you're Naruto, and I'm going to make the village see that!" Yelled Hinata.

Naruto looked at her in surprise, she had loved him more than anyone ever did. He even started to wonder if anyone else loved him at all, all his friends were nothing more but his friends, they never stood up against the village's views by his side. "Hinata..."

She kissed him on the lips before he could deny her help, "Naruto, from now on, you drag me into all your messes, and we'll face them together."

Half a day of training had passed; everyone used it to their advantage. Kiyoshi's kodachi was now moving according to his will, but in very sloppy movement, nearly slashing him every few swings. "This is a great present, thank you."

Hikari grinned, Kiyoshi was going to weigh slightly less since he lost his chains, and eventually get accustomed to his lighter self. Also the chains are replaced by the ribbons, which can be just as strong and can be controlled much easier. "No problem, just learn how to use them properly or you'll kill one of us."

"Alright, let's get back to the others, they're probably wondering what happened to us."

Inari's chakra retraction was going extremely well, and since he was retracting the chakra he had stored in the arrows, he wasn't getting tired from the exercise, but getting hyped up. "I think I've got it down," said the kid, resting his crossbow on his shoulder.

"Good, the next thing I'm going to teach you won't be completed today though," warned Kakashi

"Why not? I still have half a day left."

"We're leaving to finish the mission when it's still dark. So everyone will go to sleep early." explained Kakashi and picked up several arrows. "Pass me your crossbow."

Inari handed his weapon over. Kakashi put the arrows together in a small bunch and started pouring chakra into them. The arrows shrunk and combined into one. The kid stared at the new arrow in amazement.

"The next thing I'm going to teach you," said Kakashi firing the arrow into a nearby tree. Two meters before impact, he retracted the chakra, the arrow split up into the several arrows that were combined, and ripped the tree in half on impact. "Is cluster-shot."

For the past four hours Naruto and Hinata were training the style that Kiyoshi had passed onto them. They were getting extremely dangerous with it; Hinata was able to seal a clone's chakra points whilst flying in midair. Naruto had added another clone into their combinations, so now two Narutos and Hinata were flying around the forest. He was also able to learn to create a clone and turn that clone into a weapon in the blink of an eye.

The forest was smoking from all the clones exploding; the strange vapor they left off didn't disperse fast enough before the next clone got annihilated by the couple's fatal combos.

Kiyoshi came up to Inari sitting over a pile of arrows and molding them together. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Practicing..." replied the kid

Hikari came up shortly after Kiyoshi, looked at the kid and asked her boyfriend, "what's he doing?"

"Practicing" replied Kiyoshi, then turned back to Inari "what are you practicing?"

Inari looked up, instead of replying he decided to show Kiyoshi instead. He lifted his crossbow, attached an arrow and shot it. The arrow split up into seven more and entered into Kiyoshi's chest. The teen flew back into the water, then came out bleeding and pulling the arrows out. "Ow..."

Hikari ran up to Kiyoshi to tend his wounds. Her trust for him had already erased all worry, nothing would kill him, but she still wasn't sure whether he felt the pain or not. "You alright?" asked Hikari with a calm voice.

Kiyoshi pulled the last arrow and threw it at the ground. Storming over to Inari, who had already forgot that he shot his comrade and resumed fusing arrows, the blonde asked, "Where's that jack off Kakashi?"

Inari, without lifting his eyes, pointed into the forest, "he went to find the other two."

"What? Why?"

"To inform them that we are going to sleep early today, because we're leaving at night to complete your mission," explained Inari.

Hikari felt uneasy, completing the mission meant going up against the pirates, and the other three ninja. She no longer felt any dedication to her former crew, but the ninjas were going to be dangerous. If it were one on one, she would be able to beat any one of them, but it was six people against five battalions and three ninja. It would be difficult. "I'll help you."

Kiyoshi turned to his girlfriend, "alright, but be careful, you know about the thing I have."

Hikari nodded, Kiyoshi's problem would be dangerous for them, but she wouldn't leave his side.

Author's note: I was once again able to write a chapter. Tomorow however, will not be the case. Tomorrow I have an exam in the morning and I will be teaching karate in the evening. That only leaves me the afternoon to write, and I want to try and make the next chapter a good one. This fanfiction is coming to an end, I'll try to make the ending arounf chapter 35, maybe a couple extra, but we'll see. I'm probably going to make a second part to it, but before I start posting that, I want to make some preparations. This was just a heads up on the upcoming updates. Thank you for reading and I hope you all have nice and healthy babies... for breakfast... or whichever.


	34. Chapter 33 Suspicions and Worries

Chapter 33 

This night was a quiet one, like the calm dark-blue ocean before a monstrous storm. Nothing could be heard but the cricketing of the grasshoppers and the leaves moving musically rustling with the wind. The group of six went to sleep earlier than usual, for this night was the night they would finish what Konoha's team was set out to do.

Kiyoshi didn't take the ribbons off; he couldn't sleep by Hikari's side so these pieces of cloth were there to make the night easier to sleep through, until he could be reunited with her when they would wake up.

Naruto was more relaxed now than ever. The day he left behind was something that deserved an anniversary. He had found Hinata to be someone he could put his trust in, and he was starting to realize why the Kyubi was afraid of her.

The night was quiet, the day behind it gave a valuable memory to everyone.

Several hours later the silence was broken. "Holy mother of..." gasped Kakashi, snapping out of his nightmare. "Bad omen..." thought the mask ninja wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Inari woke up from the same dream, the dream where they were facing agonizing screams of hell with the grim reaper leading them in. "This doesn't start the day off nicely."

Kiyoshi woke up screaming, and therefore waking the rest of the group up as well. He looked around, saw Kakashi standing over him and poking holes in him with a kunai. "Why the hell did you wake me up this early? And what the hell are you doing?!!" screamed the blonde jumping up and rubbing his punctured arm.

"We're going," replied the ninja, "and I was bored."

Before Kiyoshi could start suffocating the silly man in front of him, Hikari walked into his room and gave him an angry look. "What's with the screaming in the middle of the night?"

Kiyoshi became slightly scared of her stare. He pointed at Kakashi, "He did it."

Hikari walked in, smacking the two guys with the back of her hand. Then turned to the gray-haired ninja with a suspicious glance, "why are you in his room so early?"

Kakashi pointed at his kunai and Kiyoshi's cut, "I was bored," explained the copy ninja "also, its time for us to go."

Hikari cheered up, one would say that her cheer was excessive. "Why didn't you say so?" grinned the girl, "hold on one second." With that the violet-haired girl took off and started turning the cave upside down. Within seconds everyone's bags were prepared, food set up on the table, and the other three members standing in utter confusion, still waking up.

Naruto groaned, "What's going on?"

"We're going" calmly replied Inari, making the 'I don't care' face.

"You're strangely resembling Sasuke lately," mumbled the blonde.

Hikari jumped in, hyped up as if she just won five lotteries in a row. "Early breakfast is made and bags are packed, let's go let's go let's go!"

Kiyoshi yawned, "why are you so hyper at a time like this?"

The girl smirked, "because I'm going to fight by your side."

Kakashi pulled out and unraveled a scroll, "we have one main goal in out mission, but having casualties is out of question, so this we're going to keep ourselves out of conflict."

"So what's out game plan coach?" Asked Kiyoshi

Kakashi ignored Kiyoshi's wittiness and carried on. "You stay back with Naruto and Inari, while I take the girls inside the ship to retrieve the chest."

Naruto didn't like this plan one bit. "What the hell is this?"

Kakashi originally intended to explain with without insults or conflicts, but since Naruto was giving him attitude, "that's because you can't sneak for shit. Less for Inari and Kiyoshi, but same reason goes for them as well."

Hinata felt Naruto's discomfort. She decided to ask the next question to save her boyfriend from further humiliation. "What are the guys going to do in the meanwhile?"

"They are our plan b, in case we do get spotted, they will tear the ship down using brute force."

Naruto smiled at this, imagining fifty clones with rasengans attacking the ship from all directions.

"That's plan b?" asked Inari

Kakashi nodded

"You dragged me all the way out here for this?"

"Yes"

"I'm glad I went along," grinned the boy

Hikari started back to her room, she had prepared everyone but herself. "I'll be right back, there's something that I need to take care of."

Kakashi's eyes followed the girl to her door in suspicion. "As for plan c..."

Kiyoshi cut him off, "wait for Hikari, she needs to hear it too."

Kakashi sighed, "She's the reason we need the plan c." The statement surprised everyone. "I know that everyone in this room has already warmed up to her, but the danger of her still being an enemy, still resides."

Kiyoshi's stare was locked onto the ninja's one eye; his respect for the copy ninja was reduced to something that resembled hate. "Once this is over, I'm never going on a mission with you by my side," stated the blonde.

Kakashi was surprised to hear this from the teen; if anyone, Kiyoshi would be the most logical, and find his reasoning to be correct. Instead, all Kiyoshi found was hate.

Kiyoshi did see logic behind the masked ninja's statement, but couldn't forgive him nevertheless. He didn't even want to hear plan c, let alone imagine what Kakashi was going to say next.

Kakashi dropped it, and carried on, "if that's the case, the pirates will be waiting for us when we arrive. In which case, Kiyoshi, Naruto and I will hold them back, while Hinata and Inari will go aboard the ship to search for the chest."

Hikari came back carrying a big backpack, "I'm ready, let's eat and move out."

Kiyoshi was eyeing the oversized bag, "are you moving or something?"

Hikari smirked, "I'm going to blow those ships to oblivion," replied the girl, opening the backpack and revealing countless sticks of dynamite.

Kiyoshi, stunned, stared the bag of explosives, "I'm not even going to ask why you have those in the first place."

"I'm an ex-pirate, Kiyoshi. Why wouldn't I have them?"

The six of them sat down for one last quick meal before departure. Everyone with the exception of Kiyoshi, dug into the food with an angry appetite. The blonde couldn't eat; his mind was still trying to comprehend what Kakashi had said to him before. The idea of his sweet girlfriend being on the enemy's side was unbearable; he wanted to beat the masked ninja to sub-atomic dust for suggesting it, no matter how logical the idea was. "Hikari..."

"Hm?" asked the girl, looking up from her food.

"I love you." The words of a dying man escaped the teen's mouth.

Everyone looked up; those words were said a lot lately, and always meant whet they implied. But this time it was something more. Everyone felt Kiyoshi's need for Hikari, he didn't want her to leave his side, he was afraid, and it was too evident to not notice.

"I know," smiled the violet haired girl.

Time went on, not waiting for anyone. The only thing they could do is be prepared for it, but at the cost or respect between them.

As the night went on, the six warriors left their shelter, following Hikari into enemy territory. She knew every one of the convoy's usual routes, and where the ships docked or rested at night.

The girl led them into the mouth of a cave on an island not too far away from the island with her hideout. The cave went on and on, it was dark, and they couldn't use light due to the risk of being spotted. The one thing they could rely on was Hikari's instinct, she had been down there many times, and had memorized the cave and its tunnels by heart.

The group ventured further and further until they could see a light at the end of the tunnel. It was nighttime, but when leaving pitch-black, any dark sky or color seems light.

They started sneaking by the cave's wall, until they reached the exit. Hikari peeked out, spotting a lake with the five ships in satisfaction, no pirates were in sight. "It's safe, the ships are here, but everyone's asleep."

They gathered in a huddle. Kakashi was uncomfortable, but didn't show it. They had no choice but to follow this girl, she's their only chance at finding the chest. But if she's not on their side, she had just led them into a trap. Another thing that bothered him was that she knew everything about plan A and B, and the group's fighting abilities. If she were still a pirate, Kakashi's team would be at a disadvantage, because the trap could lie within the ship itself, laid out in the least expected way. The only thing he could do is hope that she's on his side, and wander into enemy territory blindfolded.

"Let's go, we don't have all night," said Hikari, dragging Hinata and Kakashi out of the cave and off to the side. "I know the ship's blind side, we'll enter through there, but we'll have to sneak onto the dock first."

Hinata nodded and started following the girl, when Kakashi stopped them, "hang on," the two girls turned around. "Let's take a different route," suggested Kakashi, still not trusting Hikari. Just in case she was a pirate, a slight change of the enemy's plan could work to their advantage.

"But then we'll be out in the open!" exclaimed Hikari.

Kakashi had to level with her, if in fact she was on their side, he couldn't keep her out of his suspicions. "I'll be frank with you Hikari, I can't really trust you."

She looked down in disappointment, but understood what he meant completely. Hikari knew that Kakashi couldn't risk the lives of his comrades. "Please trust me, if you go any other way, you'll be spotted by the lookout."

"I'm sorry, but no."

"If you don't trust me, how about you leave Hinata here, and check my way out yourself? I'll show you that it's safe."

Kakashi considered this. He could easily take care of himself if there in fact was a trap or ambush waiting for them, which that would mean that the girl had planned this. But what if he was wrong, what if she had truly changed from her former pirate self? Then she was telling the truth, and they would be walking out into the open. He still had to make sure, he told Hinata to stay back while he explored with Hikari.

Hinata stayed back, she couldn't understand where Kakashi's suspicions were coming from. Couldn't he see Hikari's love for Kiyoshi? By looking at that alone, one could see her change without question. Furthermore, this wasn't a part of the original plan, she was supposed to sneak onboard along with them, and instead she was left in a stand-by position.

Kakashi climbed up the side of the ship after Hikari. Peeking over the cool metallic handrail, he spotted a single guard on the other side of the ship, looking in the opposite direction. "I guess I was wrong," thought the copy ninja, quietly climbing over the handrail, and going into concealment behind a barrel. "Hinata it looks to be..." started Kakashi, but got cut off by a dart slicing through the air at him. He quickly took out a kunai and deflected it, "Everyone, heads up, we've been found out!" Yelled Kakashi through the microphone and deflecting several more attacks.

Hikari stared upwards in shock, how could the pirates know that they were coming? A shuriken flew through the sails and headed towards her. She quickly jumped up and engulfed herself in her free-form black cape, becoming invisible in the night.

Kakashi wasn't happy; the pirates were waiting for his team's arrival. He felt like an idiot for starting to believe the girl, "I'm going to get you Hikari!" Screamed the enraged Kakashi, removing the mask from his left eye.

Transmissions of Hinata struggling were coming through, she was having trouble too. The pirates took every one of Kakashi's gambles to their advantage. He was the player, they were the dealers, and he just got the worst hand possible.

"Hinata!" Screamed Naruto rushing over to his girlfriend and bashing the heads of two pirates together. "Let's do this!"

Ranged enemies from all sides were surrounding Kakashi. The projectiles flying at him from all directions, and the only thing he could do was deflect them or evade. The ninja started break dancing, deflecting the kunai and darts back at the enemy. He was getting tired. He jumped into the air to get out of the way of a wall of attacks coming from his left. While in midair, he tried to make an estimate of the number of enemies he was going up against. "This is going to be a long night."

Hikari was using Kakashi's attention gaining skills to her advantage. Invisibly jumping from mast to rope, gliding through the air and snatching unsuspecting pirates.

Kakashi was watching the numbers decrease and reappear again. Then it happened, a black blob caught his attention as it engulfed an enemy and threw them overboard, "what the hell?"

Inari and Kiyoshi made their appearance in the middle of the pirate crowd, standing back to back. Inari shot a cluster arrow in one direction, while Kiyoshi sliced several stomachs open on the other. Together they made a big splash in the sea of enemies and gracefully jumped out, joining Kakashi in the poorly planned fight. "We're here, what do we do now?" Said Inari.

Kakashi examined the situation. Naruto and Hinata had their hands full with fending the enemies off. Hikari, the person that's seen their combat skills up close, was now on the enemy's side. And he still didn't know what to make of the big black blob in the sky that's consuming the pirates one by one. "Kiyoshi, you stay here and fend these assholes off. Inari and I will go onboard and search for the treasure chest. I'm not sure that we'll even find it, it could be on one of the other ships, but it's worth a try."

Kiyoshi didn't care about the plan; he sharply turned his head back and forth, searching for his girlfriend. "Where's Hikari?!!" Screamed the teen.

Kakashi turned away from Kiyoshi, "I was right about her, she's still a pir..."

Kiyoshi kicked the ninja in the head before he could finish the sentence off. He didn't want to hear it, he didn't want to believe it, and he wasn't going to have it from Kakashi. "You watch your mouth Kakashi, wrong choice of words and I'll be using your skull as a cup."

Kakashi stared up at the kid from the ground. The air was starting to get heavy and cold, the kid before him was broken and out of control. "Calm down Kiyoshi, life's unfair, but we have to finish this mission."

The blonde's iris and pupil started glowing green; the blood limit lines on his eyes were spinning without a speed limit. Rage was fueling the kid; "life's unfair?" repeated the teen, "don't lecture me!"

Kakashi didn't feel like getting into deep conversation at this point; they were still fighting a massive army of pirates and having a difficult time as it was. "Kiyoshi, look out!" yelled Kakashi, as projectiles entered the blonde's back. This time, blood started leaking from Kiyoshi's mouth. A weapon got past his dense muscles and punctured an organ. No change of expression was evident on his face, only hate for Kakashi. The blonde was too lost and pissed off to make out right from wrong, and examine the situation with logic.

Inari was desperately trying to keep the enemies occupied while Kakashi attempted to put sense into Kiyoshi's head. "Hurry up!"

Kiyoshi flung his arms in opposite directions; his Kodachis flew out from his sleeves and punctured the chests of two pirates. Using the ribbons that Hikari gave him, he tossed the pirates off his blades into the crowd giving Kakashi and Inari a way through. "We'll talk later, but before we do, you better understand that Hikari is my love and life no matter what."

Kakashi got up, and ran off past the pirates, into the ship. Kiyoshi took a barrel and threw it at a pirate trying to pursue his team. "Your fight is over here."

A tornado of ribbon and sharp blade circled the blonde, deflecting attacks and killing anyone who got too close. Kiyoshi's storm soon turned into a real one, when a big hurricane rose from him, creating strong gusts of wind making everyone lose their balance.

Hikari watched the whole conflict between Kakashi and Kiyoshi, up to the moment when Kiyoshi went on a mad killing spree out of sorrow for losing her. "Kiyoshi!" screamed the girl, landing beside him and wrapping her arms around him.

The enemy tried to take advantage of Kiyoshi's relaxation. Several kunai passed his wind barrier and entered his flesh, one entered his eye, slicing it open and releasing white jell and blood.

Kiyoshi screamed in pain. He was a mess; his muscles were getting punctured, his nerves had more feeling than ever, and he lost an eye. But being reunited with Hikari made up for the pain.

She stared up at him in horror, her boyfriend was being cut down, he was half-blind, had no more precision, and still finding peace in her. "Let's make phoenix fire."

Kiyoshi looked down at her with his one eye, blood pouring from the other. "What about the dynamite?"

"I've got it covered," replied the girl.

Kiyoshi nodded, this would be a suicidal technique for most people. Phoenix fire takes two people to operate; one person must be a wind user, while the other has to be a fire user. The fire user creates a destructive fire of high temperatures, temperatures that trigger plasma and even the evaporation of several solid metals. While the wind user creates a tornado to carry the fire throughout. The technique takes up more than half of each person's chakra, and the input of that chakra has to be equal from both people.

Naruto and Hinata stood over a pile of unconscious pirates, observing an unholy tornado of fire and lava form on the ship closest to them. Even they, keeping a fair distance away from the ship felt the pyro's destructive heat. They jumped back, away from the fire beast.

Kakashi and Inari felt the ship's creaking and sinking. They had to move fast, they rushed past open doors and hammocks, until they reached a room with a dozen of chests. Kakashi started searching through them, finding the correct one and rushing out of the room, heading back up to the ship's exit.

Naruto and Hinata found themselves in a world of trouble, as they were facing two of the pirate ships and their crews all by themselves. Naruto chuckled, this would be a fight for him and Hinata to remember, "let's give these pirates something to chew on."

Kiyoshi and Hikari were in the center of their pyro. Although the eye of it didn't receive nearly as much heat as everything else, Kiyoshi's skin was still starting to get toasty. He stood his ground, creating strong air currents to feed the fire and keep it away from him and Hikari. "Hikari! I can't stand much longer!"

The girl turned to her mess of a boyfriend; no pirates would remain alive after their Phoenix Fire technique. "I'll start lessening the input, you follow my lead!"

Kiyoshi nodded. The blood had already dried off, wounds closed by the burning air around him, and eye already covered up by one of the cloths that Hikari gave him. He lessened his chakra movement, he had to be careful to not release his control, or the flame tongues would engulf the two of them. He couldn't keep the air moving too fast, or the fire wouldn't eat it up fast enough, and the pressure would get too high for Hikari to withstand.

Slowly and steadily, the red tornado dispersed into the air. Smoke coming from the burnt wood under them, even though Kiyoshi tried to keep the fire above the deck, the fire was too strong and unstable to be controlled by anyone, no matter how much experience they had.

Rain started, the massive inferno evaporated most of the lake, which was now coming back down in peaceful drops. Hikari stared at her boyfriend, now they had time to relax, since nothing remained of their enemies, not even bones were left over, all was burnt away.

She started back to Kiyoshi, his clothes were barely clothes anymore, and big holes were burnt in them. The only reason he still had some left was because of his weights, the clothes melted onto the metallic plates and became armor. She came up to him, removing sharp metals from his back, reopening the wounds that were enclosed upon them. Kiyoshi groaned in pain, so much blood, so much death, he indeed was without doubt the death god that he thought he was.

Kiyoshi recalled back to Hikari's confession. The day when their fates were bound into one.

It was a sunny day; the calm sea breeze was kissing him on the cheek. He, alongside Naruto and Hinata had just escaped the pirate ship's stranglehold. The sun is nice and warm, slowly drying his wet clothes. Who would have thought that after such an escape, such danger, the weather could be so soft and warming.

A voice came from behind him, "Kiyoshi!"

He turned around; the violet haired girl was sprinting towards him. The next feeling he had was a rare one for him. He felt joy embrace his heart with its warmth, just as he embraced the girl who had brought it on. "Hikari" said the boy, tears forming. He didn't know why such happiness existed, but he liked it.

Hikari looked up at him, "I'm tired of this pirate crap, they have no manners, etiquette or life. I want to be with you," said the girl. Kiyoshi could feel her need for him, just as he felt his need for her love.

Something snapped inside Kiyoshi, he remembered why he stayed away from relationships in the first place. For as long as he could remember, his life was full of death. Many years of killing, had brought something that resembled bad luck. Everyone he'd known, all his friends, all his girlfriends had been killed, died, or became so ill that he was forced out of their lives. Hikari knew all about it, he told her due to the drugging back on the ship. Perhaps she forgot, what if she would become afraid if he reminded her. It's only fair to warn someone if they want to fall in love with a death god, "but what about..."

She cut him off "I don't care, we'll work it out somehow, I want to get to know you, and I want you to love me."

Kiyoshi looked deeply into her eyes and smiled. There would be no flaw in his love for her, he couldn't help but feel happy to find her. Placing her in danger was never his intention, but he couldn't say no to true love.

Beautiful day, warm sun, soft sea breeze, and love in the air.

Kiyoshi snapped back out of his thoughts, smiling. No matter what would happen, nothing would take that day away from them.

Hikari tied up his wounds to prevent bleeding. She stared into his eye with sadness in hers, feeling responsible for his loss of his right eye. "I'm so sorry, only if I had come out earlier, you wouldn't lose your..."

Kiyoshi cut her off with a hug, "live a life of no regrets. An eye is nothing to lose yourself over."

She smiled, as the image of her beloved Kiyoshi started fading to black. She fell down; her back was cold, the night consuming everything around her.

Author's note: Hey everyone, I'm VERY sorry for not posting anything for over a week. I hope you guys will forgive me for my absence, for I had exams, camping trip, karate, I was on edge because I didn't get drunk for almost 3 months, and I have a writer's block. I hope this chapter satisfied you, I worked hard on it, forcing myself through the writer's block. I can't guarantee that the block is gone, and therefore I can't promise updates soon (I will still try). This fanfic is almost over, and there will be a second part to it, so don't worry (just saying in case you are). Before I go onto the second part of this fanfic, I'll take a break by fixing the typos of the first 15 or so chapters, and I might also be very busy this summer (p.s. I seem to have lost a reader). Thanks for reading, sincerely everyone's this is Silencer299 signing off.


	35. Chapter 34 Naruto's love

Chapter 34 

Naruto started charging his rasengan. The stare of hundreds of eyes fixed upon him and Hinata.

Hinata started tying her hair back. This battle would take a while, and having her eyesight constantly interrupted by the long black growth wouldn't help their cause.

"Looking good," smirked Naruto after his girlfriend's new hairstyle. He couldn't help but get distracted by her, no matter how vast an incoming army was, it would be no match for her beauty.

"Naruto-kun, pay attention," said the girl, jumping out of the way of incoming arrows.

Naruto lifted his rasengan, ripping the incoming attacks into splinters and fusing them into his ball of spinning chakra. "This is going to be painful," said the blonde, observing his rasengan mixed with sharp pieces of wood.

The two of them came charging at the enemy, hands joined, side-by-side in unity.

They jumped up, flying into the center of the mass of enemies. Swords were lifted into the air, as a welcoming pad for Naruto and Hinata to land on.

The couple disappeared, reappearing under the enemy and creating a big shockwave along with a crater on the ship's deck. Pirates were flung in all directions, only to be replaced by an incoming horde of their comrades.

Naruto held on to Hinata with his free arm. The girl started spinning, with her boyfriend as the central axis and support. Her legs delivered fatal kicks to the incoming pirates, Hinata's perfect defense around Naruto.

"Separate them!" commanded a big shot pirate with oversized muscles, pointing at the couple, not daring to come close himself. "They have to be separated!"

Hinata landed, and flung Naruto over herself at the noisy pirate. Naruto flew over the crowd of enemies and inserted his splinter-rasengan into the enemy's chest. Releasing his control of the orb, the rasengan blew up like a grenade, half the splinters entering the pirate's body and making him fly overboard.

"Heh," smiled the teen, looking down as the blood-covered brute broke the water's surface in a big splash. Someone grabbed him from behind in an arm-lock, and another pirate came charging at him with a sword. "Damn..."

Hinata pulled Naruto up from midair and shot him back into the crowded part of the ship, while she took care of the two that nearly got a chance to attack him.

Naruto flipped through the air, "damn! Hinata, stop throwing me all over the place!"

The pirates were already waiting for his landing with rusty weapons raised; the idea of the kids separated was too comforting for them. They were wrong, Naruto can handle himself just fine without the help of his girlfriend, and he could for a while now. Same could be said for Hinata, no attack could get close enough to hurt her; anything that posed a threat immediately got countered or destroyed by her gentle fist.

Naruto started creating clones to propel himself through the air. Clones appeared and disappeared at a moment's notice, tossing him in all directions, mass confusion spreading throughout the ship's crew.

Watching this, Hinata couldn't help but burst out laughing; Naruto was making the pirates dizzy, messing with their minds without the use of genjutsu. One by one the pirates either fell down or rushed over to the side to throw up. The ones left standing were now pushovers; she ran up to them and started punching them down.

Moments later they were sitting on a pile of beat up and unconscious slobs, both satisfied to the brink with their success.

"There they are!" came a voice from behind them.

Naruto slowly turned his head to look at the source of the enthusiastic voice. After observing the other three ships starting to invade their current one, he turned back and sighed. "We're in trouble."

Hinata nodded, they were already tired out from disarming one ship, and now three more arrived, releasing a swarm of reeking, unshowered guys with pointy things and sharp objects. "Don't worry, all we have to do is keep them busy until Kakashi and the rest get the chest. After that we run like hell."

"I'm not worried. It's just going to be a pain to fight them, I'm all tired out," replied the blonde. This was not surprising to Hinata; even though Naruto had excessive stamina, his little trick of making the enemy dizzy took a lot out of him.

The couple got up and turned around to face the charging swarm of pirates with various stabbing and slicing weapons. They dashed at the nearest few pirates, using their new and improved airborne fighting style, to give the pirates hell.

The fight went on, ten minutes of constant jumping, kicking and concentration, made them tired and sloppy. They were having a difficult time trying to keep up with eachother.

Naruto jumped off a pirate towards Hinata, she did the same. The move that was supposed to make them spin around eachother and fly back at the opponents, used a lot, but finally failed. As they flew towards eachother, their hands joined to sling them around in opposite directions. Naruto got careless; his hand slipped and they fell to the ground, tumbling into the feet of their enemies.

Several pirates picked them up, dragging them to the mast; they were extremely pissed off.

Neither Naruto nor Hinata could move, their bodies were weak enough from the fighting, and the fact that they were tied up didn't help much. The boy groaned, at moments like these the old Naruto would start doing something stupid like panic. Good thing he had matured since then; he tried to analyze the situation this time, but couldn't come up with a way out. He looked over to Hinata, who was lying beside him. She shook her head too. "Shit," thought the teen.

"Hey kid!" said a loud voice.

Naruto got slightly startled; he heard this voice somewhere before. He looked up at the pirates, nobody was turned to him; they were discussing their own private matters. "Who said that?"

Hinata turned to him, she didn't hear anything. So fear for Naruto's sanity arose in her. "Who said what?"

"Don't talk to yourself kid," said the same voice.

Naruto remembered. The voice he had tuned out earlier, the voice of the dangerous beast inside him. "Oh it's you..."

"You look like you could use a hand"

"Bug off loser, I'm not going to release you."

"I don't know... You look like you're in a pretty tight spot," teased the fox.

Naruto knew that the fox was correct; a pirate nearby was sharpening a big axe, a Naruto-neck sized axe. "Fuck..."

"Looks like your girlfriend is going the same place that you are, you might want to save her..."

"Shut up!" yelled the kid, this time panicking. The fox was trying to release the reckless Naruto and use that fool to its advantage.

"Oh look, they even have head-sized baskets ready."

"I said shut up!" screamed the kid out loud.

A pirate came up to him and kicked him in the stomach, "pipe down dipshit."

The fox started laughing, "Oh! Are you going to take that? Shouldn't you do something to him in return?" Thoughts were racing through Naruto's head, plans of escape, but the Kyubi kept interfering, "oh, that's kind of risky. Could get you both killed. I wouldn't want that, I'm part of you, I don't want to die..."

Naruto had enough. He closed his eyes and faced the Kyubi's deadly stare and sharp smile. "I said shut the fuck up!"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll shut you up!" screamed the kid, charging into the cage.

The Kyubi wasn't too surprised, its host was in love and didn't want to release a demon, and it could only hope that Naruto hadn't found out its weakness. "You can't fight me you foolish little worm..." Replied the fox, snapping its jaws at the kid, making him fly back.

Naruto got up smirking, "wanna bet?"

The Kyubi became uneasy, if Naruto had found out why Hinata was a threat to him, it would mean trouble for the fox. "Yes"

"I'll warn you, fox. I've sensed your fear ever since I saw Hinata. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time," the blonde looked up, "But now I see."

"Shit..." thought the fox.

Naruto gave off a dangerous smile, one that pierced the beast. "I'm in love Kyubi, and I'm not going to let you fuck that up for me."

The fox kept its smile unchanged, but the eyes showed fear. He could no longer come out of the kid; the kid was becoming stronger from an unknown force. He had to do something now, before the kid could realize that he's much stronger than the fox. "You're weak kid, you need me to get out of all your messes. Without me, you're nothing!!!" screamed the fox in a thunderous roar

Naruto stood his ground; he had caught the Kyubi's bluff and was now calling the fox's all-in bet. "I don't need you to get me out of messes, I've got Hinata now."

"Hinata is useless right now! She's tied up!"

"I'm not weak. You make me weak. You're nothing more than a burden of mine. And Hinata's not useless right now at all. She's the one that's driving me to beat you down. From now on, you'll be nothing than a power switch to my full chakra capacity."

The fox was speechless. A monster such as the nine tails to be used as a mere tool, only the world's number one surprising ninja could think of something so crazy. "You're mad, do you really think that you can match my strength?!!" screamed the fox, sharp red chakra filling the room to the brink.

Naruto calmly closed his eyes in bliss. "Yes," replied the whiskered blonde, "I can match it and I can exceed it!" screamed the enraged teen charging into the cage again.

"Don't flatter yourself!" screamed the fox pumping all of its chakra out. The pressure of seventeen thousand deaths fell upon Naruto, glowing red chakra dominating the cage.

"I'll put a fucking leash on you!" roared Naruto, his soothing blue chakra pushing that of the fox's back. "You know death! But I know love!" screamed the blonde, jumping up into the air, and tackling the fox's might straight on.

The buff pirate with an axe came over to the couple. "Put them on their deathbeds!" commanded the brute, as several pirates picked up Hinata and Naruto, and put them on a table, leaving the heads hanging over two head-sized baskets.

"Do you know who I am?" asked the blonde, opening his eyes and turning his head to the pirate, who had already started swinging the axe but stopped. "Do you know what you just did?"

The foul smelling man smirked, "it doesn't matter, close your eyes and die!" swinging his axe at Naruto's neck.

Glowing blue energy engulfed the ship. Naruto's ropes ripped apart and he started levitating upwards. Hinata stared at him in awe, pirates in terror.

Hinata's ropes disintegrated, and the soft blue light lifted her up to join Naruto's side. She was confused beyond belief, "what is this? This amazing chakra..." she stared around, all the pirates started fainting; their spirits couldn't take such a heavy blow of chakra. "Could this be the Kyubi?" thought the girl, "no... This chakra is too soft and kind to be the Kyubi's. Is this Naruto?"

Author's note: Hey everyone, I'm definately back, only two or so chapters left to write though. It seems that I'm losing readers, but I don't mind. If you like reading my fanfic, I'm grateful and happy, If not, I still like to write. Feel free to criticise me, I'm always open to suggestions that could make my writing better. Thanks for reading, Silencer299 signing off.


	36. Chapter 35 The Found Soul

Chapter 35 

Kiyoshi was getting taller, growing towards the sky, and so was everything else. Darkness consuming everything in Hikari's sight.

Thud

"Hikari!"

It was all black; echoing remains of her loved one's voice was starting to fade too. She struggled to overcome the darkness. Her eyes opened.

Kiyoshi was sitting with her head on his lap, trying to shake her awake. "Wake up!" Screamed the confused teen. The dripping red liquid wiped away all confusion and replaced it with more confusion, sadness, and tears. "No..." sobbed the teen.

Her sight of Kiyoshi was blurry and dark, face was too unclear to figure out, but the tear's cold contact with her forehead explained everything. She however, felt the opposite of what he felt.

Kiyoshi's confusion raged beyond limits as the girl he loved, the poor dying girl, gave off a sweet smile. She signaled him to come closer, he did. Speechless, he had no words that would make sense of his feelings, no words to comfort her or himself.

She whispered in his ear, "do you know what the path to a good death is?"

His eyes widened, the wise man's words coming out of her mouth. He always felt comfort in them, but that was all gone now. He couldn't feel comfort, not when these words meant Hikari's death. He sobbed, "a life that's worth remembering."

She smiled again, "you gave that to me, Kiyoshi. The last few days revived me."

He didn't want to lose her, but couldn't tell her to stop speaking. These were her last few words, he was the only one she would want hearing them. "Please..." Kiyoshi said in a raspery voice, "don't..."

She cut him of, "you were wrong. I did lose my heard on that ship. I became a bloodthirsty fiend, a lost soul indeed." She forced her eyes open, the next few words would indeed be her last, and she wanted to see him for one last time before she went. "You found me Kiyoshi, you didn't save my heart, but you revived it. I'm a found soul."

Her head bobbed to the side lifelessly. Kiyoshi sat there, sorrow stricken; her head was too light for him to bear. "Come back..."

Several daggers flew into her dead body, molding Kiyoshi's sadness into rage, unspeakable rage brewed in his eyes as he looked up at the shooter.

Sharp chains wrapped around his arms above the elbows, and picked him up. He couldn't move to stop another wave of daggers from entering Hikari's body. "Stop it!" roared the blonde.

The man jumped up to the mast, smirking, "I got to say, thanks for helping us out... Kiyoshi was it?"

Kiyoshi stood above his beloved Hikari's corpse in confusion, "helping?"

"Yeah! I mean, I always wanted to take her place as captain, and thanks to you we were finally able to catch her off guard. Funny how love kills people," explained the buffed up pirate, tossing another kunai into Hikari's stomach.

Kiyoshi's eyes lost everything that resembled his livelihood, he had died just then, "it wasn't love that killed her." replied the blonde, catching the pirate ninja's interest, "it was I that killed her."

"Oh no you don't! Don't you take my credit for killing her!" joked the ninja.

"For as long as I can remember, everybody died around me. For a long time I wished to die myself, but it never happened, I always survived to see my friends and foes die in or by my hands. Until I met Hikari, then my life changed. I felt something that I hadn't felt for a long time, I wanted to live, by her side." explained Kiyoshi. Looking down at her dead body, he carried on, "she knew the danger of loving a death god, but she loved me nevertheless."

The pirate burst out laughing, "you? A death god?"

Kiyoshi remained silent, just kept looking down at Hikari in sadness, "I'm so sorry Hikari, I shouldn't have rocked the boat."

Getting pissed by the lack of attention, the pirate decided to end this. "You two!" He yelled to the pirates holding the sharp chains binding Kiyoshi. "Cut his friggin arms off!"

The two lower in rank ninja struggled on tugging the chains. They couldn't get past Kiyoshi's armor plating. "Its no use, that coat is stopping the chain!"

Kiyoshi paid no attention to what was happening to him or around him. He reminisced the moment he saw Hikari. Even the memories were sad, it was like he planned to win her love all along, planned to kill her all along. "Why won't I die? Am I meant to live a solitary life?"

The ninja walked up to him and cut the sleeves of his coat off. "Let's see how you'll pay attention now," teased the brute, "Rip his friggin arms off!" The two subordinates started tugging again. Chains sinking their sharp blades into Kiyoshi's skin. "What the hell are you doing?!! Just cut his arms off!"

"We can't! The chains won't cut through!" screamed one of the ninjas through his struggling efforts.

Stunned, the head nacho looked back at Kiyoshi, "what the hell are you? To stop a blade with your flesh?"

The pain snapped Kiyoshi out of his dreaming. He looked back up at the murderer, "do you know what the largest organ on your body is?" The pirate backed away a little. Kiyoshi carried on, "it's your skin." Lifting the arm in a bind, this time without effort of moving against the weights on his former sleeves, he pointed at the ninja. "I'm going to remove yours."

"Ooh, gruesome... Bring it on midget." replied the pirate unsheathing his katana and holding it horizontally across his face.

Kiyoshi grasped the chains, pieces of skin shredded off. Hikari's fresh blood covering his dried up wounds, still on his conscience. He yanked on the chains; making the two ninjas at his sides fly towards him. He grabbed one of them, and spun him around into the other. Turning back to his true target, he started walking forward, each step making him want to dash at his prey. "Everything I told you so far, nobody knows, nobody of the living."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked the ninja, slightly backing up.

"It means that you're a dead man!" Kiyoshi leapt at him, the enemy's sword cutting halfway through his arm. Observing the terror in the enemy's eyes brought him no satisfaction at all. The next thing he was going to do was something that went against his moral code, revenge. He knew that no satisfaction would come from that either, but at that point there were no reasons behind anything. Grabbing him by the collar, Kiyoshi lifted the man up, "I am the grim reaper's number one supplier. Say hi to him for me."

Kiyoshi started punching holes in the pirate, keeping him alive to feel the pain. Stomach, chest, broke an arm, stabbed a leg, bit a big chunk of meat out of the man's throat and spit it out. Just in time for the incoming crew to see what he had done to their ninja.

The pirates stared at their bloody leader held up by Kiyoshi's right hand in terror. He was still alive and in agonizing pain, but they could barely recognize him anymore, too much of the body was missing, and some of it looked like it was skinned. "Kill him!" screamed one of the pirates charging at the teen.

Kiyoshi turned around and started back to Hikari's body. Kakashi and Inari came out onto the deck with the chest, "Kiyoshi! We got it! Let's get out of here!" observing a swarm of sharp blades rushing in their direction.

Kiyoshi calmly came over to Hikari and lifted her, "take her as well, give her a proper funeral. Her name is Hikari Ito." Replied Kiyoshi, handing the girl's limp body over to Kakashi. The copy ninja handed the chest over to Inari, and took Hikari, "let's go."

Kiyoshi turned around, "you go. I'll catch up with you in a second."

Kakashi hesitated, "don't do anything stupid Kiyoshi, you have a home to return to."

The blonde turned and gave off a grin that forced his eyes shut, "why would I do anything stupid? Now go, I'll be there in a second."

Inari and Kakashi sprinted away, and jumped over the side.

Everyone was unconscious, Naruto's godlike chakra kept leaking out without stop, even Hinata was starting to feel dizzy.

"Hinata, could you close some of my chakra holes?" asked Naruto, and went to pay the Kyubi a quick visit.

The fox was weak and unconscious. Over the years of Naruto's growth, his chakra capacity increased according to that of the nine tails'. His body kept getting accustomed to it in order to contain the beast, and consequentially had the Kyubi's chakra cancel most his true power. Naruto was in fact stronger than the Kyubi from the very beginning, the stamina and chakra he thought he had was only the leftover power after most of it was eaten away by the fox.

"Hey dumbass, wake up!" screamed the teen throwing a rock at the tamed beast. "Time for you to eat my chakra!"

The fox started coming to, the red flames engulfed it again, and Naruto's real body no longer released any chakra. Hinata stared at him in confusion; she didn't know what to make of his newfound power. "What was that?"

Naruto opened his eyes, "that was me without the help of the Kyubi."

She looked over to the other ship, the ship that displayed beautiful fireworks earlier. "Looks like everything's finally calmed down, let's meet up with the rest of the team."

Naruto nodded and they started back to the meeting point, stepping over the unconscious but scary faces. "I hope everything turned out to alright," said the blonde.

Kakashi and Inari were waiting for the rest of the team with a dead girl in their hands and a chest of emeralds. "Where are they?" asked the kid.

"Shoot a flare, maybe they think we're still trying to find the chest." suggested Kakashi.

Inari started loading a red arrow into his crossbow, when a familiar voice screamed, "we're here!"

The two turned around to see Naruto and his girlfriend sprinting towards them hand-in-hand. "How'd the fight go?" asked Kakashi.

"We were nearly executed," grinned Naruto in reply.

Kakashi stared at him, this kid was too happy by that fact; something else happened that the kid was holding back. He turned to the girl, "Hinata, what happened?"

She smiled, looking at the blonde by her side, "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it was amazing," replied the girl, and hugged her boyfriend.

Kakashi decided to leave this conversation for another time, right now they had to go back for Kiyoshi because the kid wouldn't leave those poor pirates alone.

Naruto spotted Hikari lying motionless behind Kakashi, "what happened?!!" Screamed the blonde rushing over to the dead girl.

"I'm not sure, I guess she was on our side all along, she got killed while fighting by Kiyoshi's side." Replied the masked ninja, starting walking back to the ship to drag Kiyoshi away.

"Where are you going?" asked Hinata

"To get Kiyoshi."

The gray-haired ninja walked towards the ship, sounds of battle making him quicken his pace. "Damn it Kiyoshi, what are you doing?"

In an instant, the air heated up. A shockwave threw Kakashi back as the ship before him got blown to smithereens. Shards of wood, steel and broken swords flew in all directions. Burnt and ripped apart bodies floated on the water's surface, the four survivors observed the horrifying sight in shock.

Kakashi got up, "so that's what you were planning to do. How's that not something stupid?" thought the ninja.

The three kids rushed over to Kakashi, "what happened? Where's Kiyoshi?!!" screamed Naruto.

Kakashi turned and started back to Hikari. Upon reaching the shore, he spotted Kiyoshi's shredded and burnt coat hanging off a tree branch. "He's dead, Naruto."

Hinata turned to observe the burning remains of the ship. "What if he's still alive?"

Kakashi sat down, "go ahead, search for him. Even if he's alive, he won't come back to Konoha with us."

Inari rushed into the burning pile of driftwood in search of his part-time mentor. "Kiyoshi-sama!" screamed the preteen, searching through the floating corpses.

Kakashi continued, "If he's dead, he's at the bottom of the lake. He weighs too much to float on the surface."

Inari ignored the man's reasoning, "we still have to look for him."

"Don't you get it? You won't find him either way. It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive, he doesn't want to be found."

Inari ran up to the ninja, "don't you get it? He's your friend! You have to search for him no matter what!"

Kakashi closed his eyes, "he wasn't my friend." The other three turned to him in confusion, he carried on, "as soon as he heard my suspicions of Hikari, the friendship ended. He doesn't want to see me, let alone have anything to do with me."

"That's all?" asked Naruto. "You're stupid Kakashi, Kiyoshi never held a grudge against anyone but himself. If anything, he never wanted to hurt anyone, friend or foe, bringing death or hate on anyone was never his intention."

Kakashi got up and dove underwater. Swimming in the dark abyss, searching for his former comrade's body.

"Naruto, is there something about Kiyoshi that we don't know?" asked Hinata.

Naruto recalled his conversation with Kiyoshi the previous night, "he was afraid for Hikari's life. He felt that he was posing a danger to her."

"Why?"

"I don't know. But she knew all about it, he told her about the danger she would be facing if she loved him. She accepted him nevertheless."

Hinata smiled, "true love, just like ours."

"Not exactly," replied the blonde, "unlike me, he always denied himself a relationship of any kind. Anyone would become his friend, easily, but for that strange reason, he chose a solitary life."

Hinata looked down, she had just understood why Kiyoshi blew himself up. "He felt responsible for Hikari's death. I don't know what I would do to myself if I ever killed you, Naruto."

He hugged her, "I'll always love you. If I die, no matter whose hand it's by, I want you to live without regrets."

Kakashi emerged on the surface again, gasping for air. "Nothing, he's not down there. He either got ripped apart by the explosion or got blown somewhere far away."

The four survivors of the night picked up the dead girl, the chest, and started their journey back. Walking into the sunrise, no cheer appeared in their faces. Nevertheless, of countless deaths that occurred that night, something good came out of the event. Hikari died a happy death; she died by Kiyoshi's side. She was no longer a lost soul, she found her way out of hell.


	37. Chapter 36 Kiyoshi's Goodbye

Chapter 36 

Kiyoshi found his broken body to be washed up on some rough rocks under a cliff. The pain was too great for the mind to ignore, several bones were broken and many gashes and cuts resided on his skin. His eye was bleeding along with several other opened wounds, darkening the stones he lay on and the water around them into a nasty shade of red.

He wanted to scream out in pain, but as he long ago realized, there was no point. Showing pain has never lightened it no matter who was around, or how hard you screamed. He started getting up, he found some driftwood by a rock nearby, and he used it as support for his broken leg.

His clothes were shredded, boots ripped up, and coat missing. The only items that remained undamaged were the ribbons his dead girlfriend had given him and the chameleon gloves he always wore.

The eyesore walked through the shallow waters until he reached a beach where he could lie down to rest, and use some of the medicinal plants in the forest behind it. He collapsed, his body felt like screaming, but he didn't see the need, his mind wanted to cry but he didn't see the point.

Konoha's team reached Inari's residence, and left for their village shortly after. Kakashi didn't know what to think, let alone what he was going to tell Tsunade or Ino once he got back. Feeling guilt, the heavy burden of responsibility for the death of the girl in his hands and Kiyoshi felt overwhelming. "If I had trusted her, none of this would have happened, Kiyoshi would still be with us, and Hikari would have survived by our side." He tried to shake the guilt off, "I did what I had to. What if I were right about her? Then Hinata, or Inari could have died." The ninja sighed, "What was I supposed to do?"

Naruto and Hinata walked side-by-side for days, not wanting to let go. They had learned life to be cruel and unfair from their last night's experience. Something as strong as the bonds of love to be rendered helpless by sharp metallic objects slicing through flesh and removing life from it. For that reason they didn't want to let go, for that reason they wanted to become stronger to protect eachother.

Passing through the place where they had encountered the lost soul army, Kakashi started feeling even more like throwing up. He had realized that Kiyoshi died without knowing anything about his fallen clan, and was wondering if it would have been better if the kid knew about it. Kiyoshi died because he wanted to. It wasn't a happy death, but it's better than living a life of revenge like he would if he had known about the monsters.

The group of three reached the gates of Konoha; mission completed, but at the cost of two lovers' lives. The guards stared at the dead girl in Kakashi's hands as Konoha's team, step-by-step, made their way towards Tsunade's office.

Tsunade had just received a winning lottery ticket from her guest, moments before three ninja walked into the office with a dead girl. She stared past her guest at Kakashi, Hinata, Naruto, an unknown dead girl, and the space where Kiyoshi should have been standing. "Kakashi, what happened?"

Kakashi closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame, "mission complete."

"Where's Kiyoshi?" asked the blonde woman.

"He died," replied Naruto. Tsunade's shocked expression became even more shocked when her guest started laughing. "What's so funny you old hag?!!" Burst out Naruto.

The woman turned around to face him, "kid, I'm laughing because you think he's dead," replied the woman, "also, watch your language. Is that any way to address an elderly woman?"

Tsunade still didn't hear what happened or whose body was in Kakashi's hands. "Kakashi, what happened, and don't give me the 'mission complete' crap, I don't care about that. Tell me where Kiyoshi is, and who's this girl?"

Naruto and Hinata excused themselves and walked out of the office for Kakashi to give his report. Naruto didn't understand what had just happened, who was the guest in Tsunade's office, and how did she know Kiyoshi?. "Hinata, have you seen that woman anywhere before?" asked the blonde.

The girl shook her head in reply, "that's the first time I've seen her. Maybe she was our employer?"

"I highly doubt it, she knows Kiyoshi, she's probably a common friend of baa-chan's and his."

Kakashi felt Tsunade's concerned stare fixed upon him, "the mission was supposed to be a quiet one. We were supposed to sneak in, find the chest, and escape. Something went wrong. I'll start from the beginning..." Kakashi told the story that happened up until he was reunited with the group and Hikari.

The woman in the chair across from Tsunade's cut him off, "hang on, are you saying this girl was his girlfriend?"

"Yes, and he was quite lost in love with her."

The woman started laughing as she got up to observe the girl, "Kiyoshi? In love? I guess he manages to surprise me even when he's not around. Let me see her." After a short observation, "wow, my Kiyoshi sure did well for himself."

Kakashi looked up at her, "your Kiyoshi?"

The woman got a disappointed look on her face, "he hasn't mentioned me?"

"He was very vague about his past and himself."

The woman introduced herself "I'm Akane, I raised him until he was nine. That kid is very uptight isn't he?"

"Yes, but he hid it quite well."

She sat down again, "tell me this... Kakashi was it?" The ninja nodded. She carried on, "why do you speak of him in past tense? Do you really think he's dead?"

Kakashi carried on with the story, "I became suspicious of the girl, but didn't show it at first. I mean, one moment she's a pirate and the next she's Kiyoshi's girlfriend? I couldn't help but be suspicious, I also needed to be in order to protect the team."

"I understand," replied Akane, "please, do go on."

"We even trained as a team, the six of us had a sparring session near her hideout. That was the first time I felt her power. She was a fire user, and her skills were so advanced that she made the lake boil."

Akane raised an eyebrow, "that kid made a whole lake boil?" asked the woman pointing at the corpse.

Kakashi stopped the story again, "I'm sorry, why do you speak as if she's still alive?"

The woman smirked, "you'll understand very soon."

Kakashi dropped the conversation and continued with the story. "Everyone acted like a family, they shared everything, they taught eachother anything. But I had to stay on guard, I only taught Inari to be prepared for our encounter with the pirates. I didn't even spar with my full ability to throw Hikari off-track. I was so sure that she was a spy. But when she showed her ability, I could almost believe that she could have taken us all on by herself, that she wouldn't need to be sneaky to lure us into a trap. I should have listened to that feeling, not the one of suspicion."

"Whatever happened, happened, and it's in the past. Now stop with the guilt trips and tell us the rest." Interrupted Tsunade.

"She led us to the pirates, even suggested using the blind side of the ship as an entrance, but I didn't believe her. I left the rest of the team back as I followed her onboard. We were ambushed, at first I thought it was her doing, but then I realized that it wasn't. She was fighting on our side, I noticed it when something strange flew in the sky, picking up pirates and throwing them overboard, only later did I realize that it was her. I even told Kiyoshi that she was an enemy; he became enraged, knocked me down and nearly attacked me. Once he got some sense struck into him with the enemy's weapons, I took Inari, and we went searching for the chest. He stayed behind to fend the pirates off."

Tsunade slammed her hands on the table, "what were you thinking? Leaving him alone against countless enemies!"

Akane calmed her down with a shushing sound and a hand gesture signaling her to sit back down. "Kakashi did the right thing."

Kakashi shook his head, "no, I did everything wrong from the very start. I'm not sure what happened, but while Inari and I were searching for the chest, a strong heat filled the air. It was extremely hot, on our way back to Konoha Naruto described what he saw, and the only thing I could compare his description to was a technique called Phoenix Fire."

Akane became impressed by those two words, "a two-person elemental technique. I'm guessing that Kiyoshi and this girl created it. She's better than she looks, Kiyoshi did very well for himself."

"He did well for himself? She's dead! This is as bad as it gets!" yelled Kakashi.

Akane smiled, "you're young, you'll understand what I mean really soon. Now tell us the rest of the story."

"When Inari and I found the chest and got out of the ship, we found Kiyoshi handing his dead girlfriend over to us. He was a mess, his left eye was missing, and he was horribly cut up. There was an incoming swarm of enemies, and all he did was ask that we give her a proper funeral."

"He stayed behind?" asked Tsunade

"Yes, I told him that he has a home to return to, I told him to not do anything stupid. He just grinned and walked towards the enemy."

"That's Kiyoshi for you." smiled Akane

Kakashi forgot about something, "let me backtrack for a moment. The night we left for the mission, Hikari prepared a backpack stuffed with dynamite. She said that she was going to blow the ships to oblivion."

Akane's smile faded, "I know what you're about to say, but I'm praying that won't say it."

Kakashi closed his eyes, "Kiyoshi lit the hundreds of dynamite sticks, and they blew up when he was standing over them. No matter how supernatural he is, he didn't survive that blast. I got knocked back several hundred feet, and I wasn't even near the bag when it exploded. I saw the damage the blast did to a human body, there was enough flesh missing to make out a person's skeletal structure."

Akane looked down; even she was starting to doubt Kiyoshi's survival. "Either way, let's do what he asks of us. Let's give our friend Hikari a proper funeral."

Ino saw Hinata and Naruto coming out of Tsunade's office. "Naruto! Hinata!" Yelled the blonde girl running towards them. "How'd the mission go?" Hinata dropped her head on Naruto's shoulder. "Wow, I guess Kiyoshi actually managed to get them together," thought Ino.

"The mission was completed," replied Naruto. "Ino..."

"Where's Kiyoshi?" asked the girl with enthusiasm.

A tear formed in Hinata's eye, but she hid it from Ino. Naruto looked down in disappointment, "he's dead, Ino."

The girl slapped Naruto, "that's not funny, don't say something like that."

"It's true."

Ino's eyes became watery as she slapped him again, "stop lying!"

"I'm sorry."

She ran off crying, for the time Kiyoshi's been gone, she had been studying to perfect her techniques. She trained non-stop for days and nights so that she could win his heart when he got back. Now he wasn't coming back at all, and this was too much for her heart to take.

Kiyoshi walked on, through the pain. He tied sticks to his leg to make up for the broken bone, he had no choice but to push forward, he had one more thing he had to do, and he wanted to do it as soon as possible. He marched on, for days, having to accept anybody's charity if food or clothes were offered. He kept on going.

The funeral started, only a few people came. Inari and his grandfather traveled all the way to Konoha to be there. Naruto and Hinata stood side-by-side, watching the ceremony pass. Tsunade and Akane wished to have known the girl. Kakashi felt the most sorrow out of the group, feeling responsible for such a young death.

Kiyoshi struggled; the pain was more unbearable than ever due to the last day's march. "Al-almost there..." panted the kid. Using the last of his chakra, he created one of Hikari's invisible barriers over Konoha's wall. After climbing over it, he started limping his way to the cemetery. "Hikari..." sobbed the boy dropping to his knees in front of her fresh tombstone. "I'm so sorry..."

Kiyoshi's wound had opened, and a ninja discovered his blood trail. "We have an intruder! Everyone form search parties and find the enemy. They are wounded so shouldn't be much trouble. Stay on your guard nevertheless!" Screamed a ninja as everyone ran off to search for the outsider.

Kiyoshi got up, reaching into his pocket. He left something on the tombstone and went to find a safe exit out of Konoha.

A ninja reported to Tsunade, Akane still there keeping the Hokage company. "Hokage-sama, we had an intruder. He came in, wounded, and went to the cemetery."

Tsunade got up, "did you catch him?"

"No, the blood trail we followed led us to the tombstone of the recently deceased girl by the name of Hikari Ito. The intruder left this," the ninja put a jasmine flower on Tsunade's desk.

"Where is he now?"

"He left, his trail leads back into the forest. Do we have your permission to pursue?"

Akane stopped Tsunade from giving the order, "it's Kiyoshi."

"All the more reason for us to follow him! He's wounded!"

Akane got up, "no, you have to leave him alone now. He's heartbroken, the only thing he needs now is time." replied the woman.

"Are you sure? What if he does something rash?" asked Tsunade.

"By know you should know that he can't kill himself, what's he going to do? Attack someone? That boy doesn't even want to hurt an enemy, he's definitely not going to attack an innocent bystander."

Tsunade calmed down, "then what are we supposed to do?"

Akane picked up the jasmine flower and handed it to the ninja. "Put this back on Hikari's tombstone, it's disrespectful to remove it. As for me, I'm going home, thanks for the tea, this was worth the trip."

Kiyoshi felt something that he'd never felt before. He was enlightened; the feeling of death was lifted from him. He didn't know why, but when he left that cemetery, something or someone had been watching over him. It felt nice, as if Hikari was still alive and he was embracing her sweet perfume.

The End.

Author's note: That's it for part one. I have most of part two planned out, but the overall idea needs work. I'm tired, so I might take a small break before doing anything else. Before I mark this fanfic as completed, I'll try to fix up some of the first chapters. Thanks to those who read this and enjoyed it. If you didn't enjoy it, then I hope I do better next time.


	38. Wrap up

Hello again, I think some things need to be cleared up, so I'm going to post this up. There IS going to be a second part, and the last chapter of "Lost Soul" was supposed to be somewhat of a spoiler. I guess it was too vague and weak to be caught (seeing naruhinafan's reaction). There were many loose ends in this fanfic, and I DID plan on making them from the start. Furthermore, Hikari was NOT an expendable character, she was my favorite character from the moment I planned to bring her in. There are two reasons she died (storytelling reasons). First, I tried to use her death to create a sad ending, and I'm not going to tell you the second reason, because it'll spoil too much of the secont part. If you don't care about spoilers, pm me and I'll tell you the second reason. 

Next point. I'm fortunate enough to be able to host the fanfic that a Naruhina fanclub wrote. This is a purely NaruHina fanfiction, none of this OC crap that I used is in there. I'll tell you right now, it's fifteen times better than my writing, so I hope you will all read it. It's currently still being written (as a matter of fact, it has been written for much longer than I've been around their fanclub), and the typos are currently being fixed for public viewing.

Next, before I do anything else, I want to fix up "Lost Soul". The first 15 chapters are ridiculously dominated with mistakes and poor grammar. I am currently working on fixing them, but might take me a few days.

Lastly, I have to sneak around in order to get to my computer. My dad is shoving art lessons down my throat, and I am forced to draw a sorry excuse for a comic that he thought up of. What I'm getting at, are two things. First, as I said I have to sneak around in order to type, and therefore my progress is slowing down. Second, I am VERY pissed off as my dad, and that might lead me to a psychotic disorder of some sort, therefore there might be some problems with my mentality and/or sanity when hell freezes over.

One big "have a nice day" to all, and to all a good night (not really, I'm not going to sleep just yet).

Update 27/7/2007: I'm tired of fixing, and am marking this thing as complete, I did my best.

I'm curently working on the next part of this fanfic, calling it "A Fateful Roll". I'm currently 4 chapters into it, and working on it whenever I have free time. To read it click on the link in my profile. It takes place several months after the "Lost Soul" ends, and a lot has changed.

Slowly losing it, day by day. Art lessons are making me want to throw up, and lack of sleep doesn't help me much. I'm in a state where I can't tell the difference between dreams and reality. I just hope this is reality so that I don't have to rewrite this when I wake up.


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